Chapter Text
Clark finished all of his chores as quickly as possible so he could run over to Bruce’s house and knock on the door, practically bouncing on his toes from how excited he was. Alfred was the one to answer the door to greet him.
“Hello there, Clark.” Alfred smiled at him.
“Hi, Mr Alfred. I’m here to pick up Bruce.” he smiled.
“Come on inside, lad. I think he’s getting dressed now.” Alfred let him walk in. Clark only stepped into the first part of the house as Alfred went upstairs to tell Bruce that Clark was here and he got the chance to look around again. More stuff had been unpacked and the house was looking a little less barren now. Clark vaguely wondered how much was actually going to be kept here since they would probably move back to Gotham in the fall.
His eyes then fell upon a picture hanging up on the wall. There was a man and a woman in a picture holding a small kid. The kid was being held in the man’s arms and was smiling as his mom held his hand. Immediately Clark knew that it was Bruce with his mom and dad and his heart sank. He genuinely looked so happy here, he couldn’t imagine what it would be like to lose Ma and Pa in the same way.
Since learning that Bruce’s parents had been murdered right in front of him when he was just a kid, it gave Clark a new kind of sympathy for him and his situation and was willing to meet him where he was at and be patient with him He really should have extended that kind of understanding from the beginning, but better late than never.
Clark heard feet coming down the stairs and he stopped staring at the picture, laying eyes on Bruce who was coming down. He was still in long sleeves but instead he was in a shirt of much lighter material and shorts. His sunburn looked better as well but it might stick as a tan for a while. Clark grinned at the thought of Bruce finally getting some color in his face.
“Hey.” Clark greeted.
“Hi.” Bruce replied as he hopped down the last stair.
Clark was about to lead him out but Bruce’s face was suddenly grabbed by Alfred and yanked to the side as he started to smear sunscreen all over his face.
“Alfred!” Bruce tried to push him off but he was held on a vice grip. “Unhand me!”
“Absolutely not! This is SPF 100 with aloe vera and you will let me put it on you before you leave the house, young master. Lest you want a repeat of yesterday’s incident and further damage to your skin. You already had eczema as a child and we do not need that to come back full swing.” the butler proclaimed, absolutely no-nonsense and ignoring Bruce’s protesting. Clark had to suppress a laugh by pretending it was a cough but the tips of Bruce’s ears burned in embarrassment.
Clark was lucky that he didn’t need sunscreen, his mom had forced him into it for a while until one day when he was really small, like 5 or 6, he had wiggled out of his mom’s grasp and ran shirtless through the fields and it took his parents over an hour to catch him. When he came back without so much as a tan they stopped forcing him to put it on, figuring it was just another part of his weirdness.
Although it was ridiculously funny to watch Bruce get covered in the stuff on all exposed skin. It took a few minutes for Alfred to finish up, leaving Bruce looking grumpy but in a more amusing way than the day before.
“Okay, okay. I ate breakfast and drank water and am now practically sweating sunscreen. May I go with Clark now?” Bruce asked once Alfred was done covering his face.
“Yes, you are sufficiently protected.” Alfred grinned, then looked over at Clark. “Did you drive here, son?”
“No, sir, I walked.” Clark told him.
Alfred raised his eyebrows in surprise. “Do you want me to give you and Bruce a ride down to the farm?” he asked.
The offer made sense, just yesterday Bruce had collapsed after trying to walk from the Kent farm back to this house. Even though he was a little more protected now and wasn’t operating on an empty stomach, it made sense that Alfred would still worry.
“It’s okay, sir.” Clark grinned. “I brought something a lot more fun.”
He led Bruce outside and jumped over the porch steps so he could present his mode of transportation, rolling the wheelbarrow forward.
“Your chariot awaits.” Clark gestured to the farm equipment, sitting relatively clean (since Clark had sprayed it down with a hose) with a blanket lining the inside of it (a cheap store-bought one, not one of Ma’s nice quilts).
“Is that…?” Bruce asked, looking more stunned than anything.
“It’s a wheelbarrow! With a blanket in it so you aren’t just sitting on the metal because I’d figure that would hurt your butt after a while.” Clark explained, reaching into the wheelbarrow to pull out a sunhat. “And this is so you can keep the sun out of your eyes.”
Bruce took the hat tentatively, still a little bewildered.
“I’m sorry, are you going to push me in that thing?”
“Yeah.” Clark nodded, putting his hands on his hips. “I figured it’s better for you, and more fun, than walking.”
“What about you then?” Bruce asked.
Clark shrugged. “I’m stronger than I look.” he replied, lifting up his arm to pat his bicep. “And I really don’t mind. But if you’re too proper to be pushed around in a commoner’s wheelbarrow we can take Alfred’s car.”
Bruce frowned at his teasing, but Clark stared right back at him with a smile and crossed arms. Bruce took another look at the wheelbarrow, then back at Clark, then down at the sunhat before sighing and putting it on.
“Fine.” he said, walking towards the wheelbarrow.
Clark pumped his fist triumphantly and ran around Bruce to hold the barrow steady as the other got in. Really it wouldn’t be any kind of problem for Clark to push him around in it with his talents, but he would still have to go at a much slower pace than he was capable of. As soon as Bruce settled in, sitting with his legs pulled up to his chest, Clark lifted up the wheelbarrow.
“Thank you for choosing Kent Transportation, please keep your hands and feet inside the vehicle at all times, we do not offer snacks or drinks on this ride so if you’re hungry feel free to open your mouth for flies and mosquitos to fly into.”
Bruce snorted, grabbing the edge of the wheelbarrow probably for some sense of safety. “Classy.” he remarked.
Clark smirked. “Aaaaaaand… up up and away!” he shouted before speeding off faster than Bruce was expecting by his yelp.
“CLAAAARK!” Bruce shouted, grabbing onto the top of his sun hat so it wouldn’t fly off and shutting his eyes. Clark just smiled, he wasn’t even going that fast, probably a regular running pace for most people.
“Open your eyes! Look at the fields! They’re so beautiful!” Clark shouted, not letting up the pace.
Bruce hesitated but slowly cracked one eye open before fully taking in the sight before him.
Clark wasn’t lying when he said it was beautiful. The crops were still in the early days but the way that they were billowing in the wind, in contrast to the blue skies, was absolutely stunning. The sun shone like a golden light upon the farmland of Smallville, bouncing off of the trees and dousing everything in its brilliance. There wasn’t an iron and glass building for miles, no concrete gardens or giant billboards in sight. Just dirt roads and wildflowers blooming in the cracks where the fenceposts were dug into the ground.
“You’re right, it is beautiful.” Bruce turned him, eyes squinting from the sun, and Clark swore he saw the ghost of a smile cross his face.
It took a few minutes for them to get all the way to the house and Clark kept a good pace the whole time until he slowed down in the driveway. When he finally stopped Bruce slowly got out, dusting off his sleeves. “Are you tired at all?” he asked.
“Huh? Oh, yeah, maybe a little.” Clark rolled his shoulders, because that was probably what a normal human would say. “My arms are a little sore, I guess.”
“Hm.” Bruce hummed, taking off his hat and without any warning put it on Clark. Clark was stunned for a moment and then tilted the brim of the hat up.
“Hey, this was supposed to be for you.” he remarked.
“I only wore that to go in the wheelbarrow so no one would see me riding it.” Bruce explained, taking sunglasses out of his pocket and placing them over his eyes. “And to humor you.”
Clark chuckled. “Uh huh, sure.” he replied. “Let’s get on with the tour, then.”
He took Bruce around to the chicken coops first. “I know I showed you these last time, and we don’t have to go in there to feed them this time because I did that this morning. Hi, ladies!” he called to them, receiving loud clucks in response. He laughed and elbowed Bruce. “They remember you.”
“I’m sure they remember how good my designer shoes tasted.” Bruce snorted.
“Eh, chickens will eat anything, actually. Sometimes if the eggs are bad we’ll crack them on the ground with their food and they’ll snack on them.” Clark told him.
“Fascinating.” Bruce mused. “What other animals do you have here?”
“Just chickens and cows. Speaking of cows, I need to introduce you to them!”
“The cows?”
“Yeah!” Clark grabbed Bruce’s hands and started to drag him out to the fields where the cows would be grazing. He chose a hill for them to perch on and started pointing to the different cows.
“That black and white one over there is Tulip, and the one right next to her is Petunia. Over there is Daffodil but I just call her Daffy. Then that all black one is Rose. Do you see the brown girl with the crescent moon on her back? That’s Chang’ge. And the one grazing right next to her is Hebe. The two over by the water trough are Pele and Io, respectively.”
“I thought I was sensing a theme here but I was mistaken.” Bruce furrowed his brows.
“We usually have a theme to naming the cows based on the year they were born. So we have flower names and then mythological figure names. One of the nearby farms has a bull named Gilgamesh and he’s the father of the current generation, which all have bird names.”
“Current- wait, do you have baby cows?” Bruce’s eyes widened.
“Yes! Oh shoot, it’s probably their feeding time, let’s go!” he started running down the hill. Bruce followed after him, almost tripping over his own feet at the prospect of baby cows.
It wasn’t too far from the fields, but the calves were in their own fenced-off area. As much as Clark loved the cows that didn’t mean that they wouldn’t stomp on their babies if they thought they were in the way.
When they got near that area Pa was waiting for them, holding five bottles already made.
“There you are, Clark.” Pa waved as they came by. “I knew you wouldn’t miss feeding time.”
“Sorry, Pa, we got distracted.” Clark told him, Bruce coming up behind him and nearly keeling over, hands on his knees as he caught his breath. “Can I take Bruce into the calf area?”
Pa chuckled, handing over the bottles to Clark. “Sure thing, so long as Bruce doesn’t mind a flock of baby girls clamboring all over him.”
Clark handed Bruce one of the bottles and he peeked into the enclosure, placing his sunglasses on top of his head to get a proper look at them. “How many do you have?” he asked. “They’re all girls?”
“We’ve got five little ones here with us. We sold the boys to a different farm more equipped to bulls since we only keep female cows.” Pa explained. “Bulls can be a little difficult to handle for us since it’s only really our family working out here.”
“I see.” Bruce nodded, looking bright eyed with his hands twitching, probably more than excited to get in there.
“Are you ready to see the babies?” Clark asked.
“Very much so.”
Pa opened up the enclosure and Clark walked in first. At the sound of the gate opening all of the babies rushed over, knowing that it was time for food and tails wagging in excitement. They all went to Clark at first because they were more familiar with him, nipping and trying to suck at his fingers, the biggest of them only going up to his hip. Clark reached down to pet each of them before he started giving them a bottle each, taking great delight in the wiggling of their ears as they ate.
Bruce stood there a little awkwardly for a moment, watching the calves fawn over Clark. Clark was about to move him in a direction where he could feed one of them when he realized that one of the babies seemed to have noticed that Bruce was also holding a bottle, tentatively walking up to him, curious but also wary. Bruce was also nervous it seemed but put out his hand like you would a dog to let the calf sniff him. She did and then licked his palm, immediately diving in for the bottle.
That was the first time that Clark saw Bruce smile with teeth, kneeling down so he could get on her level in order to feed her gently and pat her on the back while she did.
“Ah, I see you’ve caught the eye of little Robin.” Pa remarked, leaning on the fence.
“Robin? I like that.” Bruce scratched her on the head.
“Yeah, we’ve got Robin, Sparrow, Finch, Dove, and Starling.” Clark pointed out each cow and he named them.
“Robin is Buttercup’s first baby, which means Clark is basically her uncle.” Pa chuckled.
“Buttercup is my favorite cow.” Clark explained. “Robin was actually kind of a surprise. Not as in we didn’t know Buttercup was pregnant, but she came way earlier than she was supposed to. One day I just looked out on the field and she was halfway out of her mom. Freaked me and my parents out real bad. But she ended up being alright even though we had to give her some special care for a while since she was so small.”
“Yeah, but she’s a fighter, that one.” Pa smiled. “There was a while there where we didn’t know if she would make it or not. She surprised all of us and is now one of our most energetic cows.”
Clark had finished off the bottles and tossed them over the fence to Pa, who grabbed them. Then Clark crouched down, taking each of the cow’s heads in his hands before kissing the top of their heads and squishing their cheeks. Some of them took more kindly to this than others. When he reached Robin he had to reach from behind her to give her a little mwua! on the forehead. She tried to lick his nose in response but he pulled away before he could.
“They’re so much cuter than I ever thought was possible.” Bruce stood up to his full height. “I’ve never seen a baby cow in real life.”
“I know, right? It’s a struggle to not just spend all of my time in here.” Clark said as he opened up the gate again.
“But, alas, the human body needs to eat and sleep.” Pa told them, patting Clark on the back as him and Bruce left the enclosure. “And your mother made sandwiches and fresh orange juice inside. You like chicken pesto, Bruce?”
Bruce nodded. “I can’t say I’ve ever had it before but I’ll try it.”
“You’ve never had chicken pesto sandwiches?” Clark asked, surprised.
“I don’t think so. My palette is pretty… pretentious.” Bruce admitted.
“Well, then, guess we just gotta stuff you full of the good stuff before you go back to hors d’oeuvres and caviar.” Clark teased.
Bruce snorted again, but it almost sounded like a laugh.
Clark wanted to see if he could get him to laugh, a real laugh, before the day ended. He was much nicer when he was enjoying himself. Clark liked it.
Bruce actually ate Ma’s food this time which was enough for Clark to completely forgive him. That and him being nice to the cows of course. He introduced Bruce to Buttercup who was in the stables laying down at the time, who seemed extremely flattered by the attention from both of them. They spent a significant amount of time there petting and talking to her and to each other.
Actually it was more like Clark talking to Bruce and the other giving the occasional nod or question or comment.
Although Clark no longer took this behavior as him being cold, it was a little awkward when silences stretched on, but it wasn’t a bad thing. He could tell that Bruce was listening to him, and he would occasionally chime in with things to say when he felt that something was relevant or important. Clark appreciated that a lot.
When they finally left the stables Clark then took him to their crops areas, listing off every kind of produce they were growing, including sunflowers, corn, wheat, oats, radishes, tomatoes, peas, peppers, and some types of squash, going on about the different upkeep that come with growing so many crops.
“We have a good variety but that means we have to keep track of each crops’ needs. We also grow other flowers like indigo, lilies, bergamot, violets, and blue cornflower.” he explained. “A lot of other farms around here usually have one or two crops and stick with it, but we provide produce for a lot of people in Smallville so my pa figured it would be better for business to offer all kinds of stuff. It was different from what his dad had envisioned for the farm so they butted heads a lot.”
“I see.” Bruce reached out his hand as they passed a crop of the cornflower. “These are really pretty.”
“Yeah, they are.” Clark crouched down. “Cornflower’s my favorite, it’s just so gorgeous.”
He gently removed a flower from the ground, lifting it up to offer to Bruce. “Usually cornflowers were worn by bachelors, which is where they got their nickname as ‘bachelor buttons’. Men would wear them on their lapels to show that they were single and interested.” he rattled on.
“So then you must wear them often.” Bruce remarked with a glint in his eye.
Clark pouted. “Hey, don’t tease. What if I already have my eye on someone?”
“Waiting for them to confess then?”
“Well… it’s more like-”
“HEY, KENT!”
Clark whipped his head around as a loud engine rattled and popped as a car rolled up to them, hosting more than a few boys around Clark’s age with their heads sticking out the windows.
“Looks like you finally got a friend that wasn’t a cow!” hollered one of the boys. “Must be new ‘round here if he’s hanging out with a loser like you!”
Whatever jerk said that received bouts of laughter from his buddies. If Clark had to guess it was Whitney and some of his buddies, which meant he needed to just close his eyes and try to ignore it.
“Stop trying to indoctrinate him into your prissy flower picking, Kent!” another one shouted.
“Why don’t you crank your engine a little louder? I can almost hear it over your small-minded insults.” Bruce suddenly snapped sarcastically, taking Clark by surprise.
“Ooooh, we got a big tough guy here.” one of the teens started a howling chant of ‘oohs’.
“Bruce, leave it, please.” Clark gently reached for Bruce’s arm, but the other ignored it.
“Don’t you all have better things to do than drive around flaunting your letterman’s jackets and yelling at actual hard-working people?” Bruce stepped forward.
“Fuck off you emo bastard!” Whitney snapped.
“Wow, really creative.” Bruce smirked. “I feel so insulted by your vocabulary that isn’t nearly big enough to match your ego. But it might just be big enough to match another part of you.”
Whitney turned red and sputtered, not even letting out another word as the car sped off, leaving black and grey smoke in its wake. Bruce waved his hand in front of his wrinkled nose. “I could smell the peaking in high school from here.”
Clark frowned. “You didn’t need to do that.”
“What, putting those halfwits in their place? I definitely did.” Bruce started walking again.
“No- listen, Bruce. Any time that I’ve fought back against guys like Whitney and his lackeys I always end up worse for it. I was hoping to go into high school without having issues with bullies right off the bat.” Clark caught up with him fairly easily.
“You shouldn’t have to deal with people like that at all. Have you talked to your parents about this?”
“Yes, and they just said to ignore it. They said that those guys are just looking for a fight and if you give them one then it just blows up the situation.”
Bruce snorted. “Please. One of the ways I dealt with bullies in reform school was with glue and very colorful craft feathers. You just need to not get caught.”
Glue and feathers? Like the medieval humiliation ritual???
“Gosh, I don’t think I have the guts to do stuff like that.” Clark said, leaving out the fact that pulling off an operation such as that would draw far more attention to himself than he was willing to. He already spent so much time trying to seem invisible in his school so no one looked any closer into his private life. That was also part of the reason he didn’t fight back at school, because if he did someone would definitely end up in the hospital with several broken bones.
“Then figure out another way to outsmart them.” Bruce leaned against the wall of the barn. “Usually guys like that aren’t very intelligent.”
“Can we get on with the tour? Please?” Clark asked, desperately wanting to change the subject.
“Is there more to see?” Bruce asked with a head tilt.
“Yeah, one more place.” Clark patted the red wall of the barn. “You’re actually leaning on it.”
He walked around to open up the double doors and strolled in, Bruce walking in right behind him. “What’s so interesting about the barn?” he asked.
“Well, it’s where we do a lot of our mechanical work since all of pa’s tools are in here. It’s also just general storage buuuuut…” Clark stomped up the stairs to the loft up in the barn, watching Bruce’s eyes widen as he saw the little home that Clark had made for himself up here. “It’s also my little slice of heaven. Or my ‘Fortress of Solitude’, according to pa.”
Clark took a lot of pride in fixing this area up. He had strung fairy lights on the ceiling, brought a desk up that he had found on the side of the road for free and covered all of the scratches in stickers, put up a hammock, and had set up a telescope that he got for Christmas a while back. There were also a few little things that Clark had added just for decoration and to make the place look more homey.
“Wow, this is… wow.” Bruce seemed at a loss for words.
“It’s cozy, right?” Clark grinned at him. “I usually come up here to do homework or look at the stars or when I just want to get away from everyone else.”
“I know the feeling.” Bruce replied, inspecting the telescope. “Are you up here often?”
“I’m either here or out in the fields with the cows more often than not.” Clark told him, plopping down on the ground with his legs dangling out of the opening. “Although I get the best view here.”
Bruce sat down next to him, crossing his legs under each other. It was late afternoon by this point so the sun was low but not setting quite yet. Bruce had to squint his eyes to look out onto the pasture but Clark just smiled and soaked in all of the rays. It was moments like this where he truly felt at peace.
“What do the stars look like out here?” Bruce asked.
“The most beautiful sight I’ve ever seen in my life.” Clark smiled at him. “You don’t get stars in the big city like you do out here.”
Bruce looked over at him, still squinting from the brightness of the biggest star. “We don’t see a lot of stars in Gotham anyways. It’s usually raining or cloudy. Or the light and factory pollution is so bad that you can hardly see the moon through the haze.”
Clark’s smile fell a little.
“There would be some nights, though. In the summer. My dad would take me to the roof of Wayne Tower and it would be just above that haze where we could see a couple twinkling stars. Maybe half of a constellation.” Bruce continued, lifting up one leg so he could set his chin on his knee. “Alfred told me that the stars would be more visible here. I haven’t taken the time to really look, though.”
His eyes looked really sad when he said it, and there was a moment of silence between them as his words weighed heavy on both of them.
It was then that Clark reached out, hesitating for just a moment before his hand fell on Bruce’s shoulder, not even squeezing it just resting there. Bruce tensed up initially at the contact but before Clark could remove his hand he relaxed into it.
It was a rare moment of vulnerability that he was getting here. Clark got the impression that Bruce really didn’t like talking about his parents all that much. I mean, who would in his situation? In a way he felt really honored that Bruce would share something like this with him.
“You’re more than welcome to stop by anytime at night and see the stars.” Clark told him, offering comfort. “We can look through my telescope or we could just lay in the field and stare up at them. That’s one of my favorite things to do with Buttercup. I can’t tell you the amount of times that my pa had to come out there because I fell asleep out in the pasture with her. When I was really little he would just carry me back to bed.”
Bruce huffed out a small laugh. (Progress!). “Can… can Robin join us?” he asked, tentatively. “If we did that?”
“Yeah! Wait, maybe we have to wait until she’s a little older until she’s allowed on the pasture without supervision. But she’ll definitely be big enough by the end of the summer before you leave.” Clark replied.
“That would be nice.” Bruce muttered softly.
Clark chuckled, taking his hand off of Bruce’s shoulder and lifting up his own leg to mirror Bruce’s position. “I see you’ve picked a favorite cow then.”
“Is it obvious?”
“Painfully.”
“Ugh.” Bruce pressed his forehead into his knee before letting both of them down over the edge. “Can you blame me? She was so sweet and came up to me all by herself. We don’t have any pets at home and I’m half tempted to ask Alfred if we can just buy her from you guys and bring her home.”
“I veto that decision purely because Buttercup would be devastated if you took her first child away.” Clark joked. He wasn’t sure if Buttercup would actually care, considering how cows are, but Clark would be devastated if he didn’t get to watch Buttercup’s little girl grow up. He also made a vow to be a good Uncle to her and what kind of Uncle would sell off their niece?
“Then maybe I’ll have to bring both of them back to Gotham with me.” Bruce responded right back.
“How dare you even suggest such a thing?” Clark gasped dramatically, the upward tick in his mouth displaying that he wasn’t being serious. “Taking away my best friend and her daughter? For shame.”
Bruce snorted and then that turned into a chuckle, quiet enough so Clark barely heard it because Bruce covered his mouth with his hand the moment the noise slipped out.
“Aw, c’mon. You aren’t gonna get arrested for laughing here.” Clark poked him in the cheek. “And I know for a fact that I’m funny so don’t try and pretend that you’re not amused.”
“I’m only laughing because of how ridiculous you are.” Bruce shoved him, speaking in between bursts of giggles.
Clark was half-tempted to tickle him until he was crying laughing but suddenly a short succession of beep beep beep from a car horn alerted both of them. They had been so caught up in talking to each other that they didn’t realize that Alfred had pulled into the driveway, probably picking Bruce up for dinner.
“Oh gosh, what’s the time?” Clark asked, hopping up.
“It’s almost 5.” Bruce checked the watch on his left hand. “I can’t believe you kept me here almost the entire day.”
“Well, what else were you going to do other than sit in your room and read?” Clark asked, offering a hand to help him to his feet.
Bruce rolled his eyes but took his hand, hoisting himself up. He took a step forward and his ankle rolled, sending him to the side and almost right out of the open space they were sitting out of, just about to fall out.
He let out a little gasp, about to fall several feet, but Clark was quick on his feet and grabbed Bruce around the middle and spun him around so both of his feet were planted firmly on the floor now.
“You okay?” he asked, seeing how Bruce’s eyes had gone wide from the scare, the child billionaire having grabbed onto his arms so tightly they would have bruised anyone else.
“Yeah, I think so.” Bruce told him, tips of his ears turning red and he noticed how close they were. “You can, uh, let me go now.”
“Oh, right.” Clark released him and Bruce took a step back.
“I should… probably go.” he started walking towards the stairs to let him down from the loft.
“Bruce.” Clark called after him, making him stop in his tracks. There was a beat between them, a heavy pause before Clark spoke again. “Can I pick you up tomorrow, same time?”
Bruce paused for a moment, and right before Clark thought he was going to run off without another word, he turned around to give Clark a little smile.
“Only if you promise to bring that god-awful wheelbarrow again.”