Similis

Using his x-ray vision to locate Haze inside the obscuring cloud, Clark dove for his stunned 'twin', putting himself firmly between Haze and the returning beast. It was all very well to know in his own mind that he was invulnerable, but even so the youth still experienced a moment of near-terror as the massive jaws clamped down on his arm.



Unnerved, after a dozen or so of its teeth shattered on impact with Clark's impenetrable skin, the shark shook itself free and fled.



There'll be more coming! Clark dreaded it. How was he going to keep Haze safe? Blood attracts them! Have to get us both out of the water now! With that thought Clark used his new flying skills to rise vertically, forcing them both up through the stifling water and out into the open air.



YES!!! He had never been so glad to be an alien freak! What a relief it was to feel the hot sunshine beating down onto his bare skin! Carefully Clark eased down onto the baking sand, resting Haze on his lap and carefully turning the other youth so that he could inspect the damage.



The back of Haze's left shoulder was a raw mess, torn strips of flesh over exposed and shattered muscle bundles. As blood dripped freely down from the open wounds and over his hands, Clark nearly threw up for the third time in only a few hours, but somehow he kept control of himself. Haze was counting on him, and Clark wasn’t about to let him down.



"What am I gonna do?" Clark worried aloud. Could he fly them both home? What if his flight power failed? Could he even control it over that sort of distance without Haze actively helping? And when they got to the farm, what then? Would his mother know what to do, assuming that Haze hadn't already bled to death on the way back?



Oh, this is bad! Clark worried, pressing his fingers over the gaping wound and willing the bleeding to stop. Why couldn’t he heal other people, like Haze could?







'Clark?' Haze's eyes snapped open. He looked up at Clark and took rapid stock of his situation. His uninjured right arm stroked up along Clark's back, and he leant his face gratefully into Clark's neck. A buzzing blanket of energy surrounded them both. Clark watched incredulously as the wounds closed and vanished just as his own usually did, leaving only unmarked and perfect skin behind.



"Haze." He gasped, wrapping his arms around Haze in sheer relief. He let himself fold tight against his 'twin' and just breathed.



For a few minutes, neither youth moved, until Clark's legs began to protest the lack of circulation, but he found himself reluctant to change anything. He shifted a little, restoring his circulation, at the same time registering just how good it was to have smooth skin pressing against his. At that thought, other parts began to react as well.



"Oh God, this is all my fault!" He blurted. First Haze had gotten hurt because he'd suggested they swim, and now Clark was finding himself getting turned on just by holding Haze against him.



'Clark, you have got to stop blaming yourself for everything that goes wrong!' Haze calmed him. 'It was a shock, but I'm fine. You got me out and gave me time to heal. See?' He twisted so that Clark was looking directly at his shoulder.



"I …" Clark could not say what was in his mind. He dared not move so much as a muscle now, as that would have only advertised the problem.



Haze ran a gentle hand over Clark's glowing cheeks. 'Are you getting too much sun?' He wondered. ‘Like Jonathan does?’



Clark was so terribly tempted to say 'yes', but he couldn't bring himself to deceive Haze, and besides he knew how awful he was at lying. "No." He said in a small voice, shutting his eyes and praying that the evidence of his own difficulty would go away as quickly as Haze's wound.







'Clark?'



With the warm voice being there inside his head, Clark couldn't avoid it simply by not looking.



'What is the problem?'



"Me." Clark admitted.



'Could you try and be a bit more specific? I can pick up your projected thoughts, but I can't really read your mind.’ Haze reminded him. 'And right now, everything’s coming over all muddled.'



"That's how I feel." Clark confessed. A whole range of sensations flickered across his conscious thoughts.



‘You also feel … oh.’ Haze's mind voice paused. ‘Oh, Clark… I'm making you so uncomfortable. I'm sorry, I'll move off your legs right away.'



As Haze shifted his position so that he could get up, the inevitable contact happened. Clark gasped in a mix of frantic desperation and mortification as a pulse of pure pleasure ran through his entire body.



'Clark?' Haze froze in mid-movement. 'What was that? '



Me, perving on you… Clark cringed, desperately hoping that Haze hadn't overheard THAT! "I didn't mean it! It was … kinda you." He managed to say. "You … touched me. Uhm…"



'Wow, I had no idea.' Haze sounded dazed. 'That was … intense!' He pulled himself together. 'Why don't you feel that more often?' The other youth asked curiously. 'It hasn't happened in the time since we connected, I don’t think I could have missed something on that scale, no matter how oblivious I was at first.'



"No. It doesn't happen very often at all. Hardly ever, really." Clark flushed as hot as he ever had in his entire life. "I'm not used to being touched … in that part at all, so maybe it was stronger than it might have been? It doesn’t matter, Haze, I know it was an accident."



'Oh. Well, I suppose there's no harm done.' Haze sounded confused. 'But why wouldn't you want to have that part touched, if it feels so good? Or shouldn't I ask?'



"You can ask." Clark dug his toes in the sand. He might have preferred it if he could have buried his whole body, but that obviously wasn’t an option. Plus he suspected that it would have made him look even more stupid than he currently felt.



'A cultural thing?' Haze guessed.



"Sorta. It's mainly 'cos I'm too young…"



'Clark, you are more than ready to share sexual pleasure.' Haze was openly confused. 'I'm fairly new at that too, but I still recognise it when I feel it, and that was definitely what I just shared with you. What I don't understand, is why the subject causes you such awkwardness?'



Clark shrugged. He desperately wanted to be able to explain, to just say what it did to him when Haze touched him even in perfectly platonic places, and how even though they had practically the same body they weren't the same person, and why that made all the difference. He also wasn't sure about how Haze would react to finding that Clark liked him in that way. Come to that, Clark wasn't quite sure himself how he felt about finding it out.







'My race didn't have any taboos about sharing pleasure.' Haze said finally. 'It's in my nature to be open about attraction. This society is very different.'



Clark blinked. He had accepted that Haze was raised in a different culture and would therefore have different reactions: it had simply not occurred to him that Haze would automatically make the same concessions for him. "I'm not legally old enough for sharing that sort of reaction, Haze." He reminded Haze.



'Maybe not in the eyes of the law in this place, however your body just said otherwise Clark.' Haze disagreed mildly. 'My people placed less value on chronological age, and more on the response of the individual.'



"So you're saying that I'm ready?" Clark wondered.



'No, I'm saying that where I came from, you would be.’ Haze replied carefully. ‘However I have no intention of inflicting the values of a dead race on you. You already have enough to contend with.' He glanced at Clark. 'So how long before you are available, according to the rules of this world?'



"Depends where you live." Clark told him. "And what we, uhm I mean what I, want to do."



'How confusing.' Haze sighed. 'Total lack of uniformity. Sorry – but this is a mad world!'



"You're not kidding." Clark threw his head back and stared at the sky. "We don't even really know how old I am for sure." He added, "The Kent's guessed at an age for my birth certificate, they could be out by as much as two years. I could even already be an adult under Kryptonian law…"



'For what it's worth, trying to follow Kryptonian customs doesn't seem any more appropriate now you're living here than adopting the rules of my people would.' Haze suggested. 'Besides, how do you know that you wouldn't have another decade to wait if you were under Kryptonian law, or another century?' He offered teasingly.



"Haze!" Clark protested. "Gees, it's bad enough already, without you adding to it!"



'Then perhaps we should explore ways of making it better for you?' Haze smiled.



"Better?" Clark knew he was staring, but he couldn't help it. That had almost sounded like an offer?



'It's time we were leaving.' Haze announced, abruptly changing tack. 'Your parents will be waiting, and you need to sleep.'



"Aw, Haze!" Clark automatically protested.



'It's twenty to eleven back at the farm.' Haze pointed at Clark's watch. 'We'll be out beyond curfew if we don't hurry.'



"How are we going to get back in time?" Clark's seething hormones rapidly metamorphosed from rising lust into subdued panic. "Can you actually fly right around the world in under twenty minutes? Especially dragging me along with you?"







'I'll shift us once we’re safely in the air.' Haze said deliberately. Standing, he brushed the clinging grains of sand off his lightly bronzed skin. 'This,' He pointed at the sand, 'Is one of the best reasons for not entering into intimate acts on a loose surface. For days after, you'll be finding intruding grains in places that you don't even want to admit to having.'



Clark felt his cheeks flame.



'And that is another.' Haze chuckled, the air leaving his mouth in soft little puffs. 'How would I be able to explain to your parent's that we were working on your control, if you're glowing like a warning beacon?' He smiled and began brushing sand off Clark with his own loosely folded t-shirt, working his way down Clark's spine with tender care. 'Float as you dress,' He suggested, 'That'll stop the sand getting into your underwear as you put it on.'



Doing as Haze advised, Clark lifted clear of the sand and pulled on his clothes, shaking each item before he got it back on. "Haze, how are you going to keep the sand out of your clothes?" He wondered aloud, too focussed on maintaining his distance from the ground to give any thought to his diminishing nudity.



'Same way you are.' Haze called back.



"Huh?" Clark looked over to see Haze floating just a few inches above his own shadow. "You can float?" Duh! Of course he can! You're watching him do it, aren't you? To Clark's immense relief, with Haze's attention focussed elsewhere, his 'twin' hadn't overheard that part.







'Only rather badly.' Haze admitted. 'It's something that I usually only use in conjunction with my wings; otherwise I couldn't remain airborne for long, let alone carry any additional weight. To float without using wings takes concentration and practice: personally I find it very fatiguing.' He said softly, never taking his eyes off his shadow on the floor beneath him. ‘I'm also not very good at it." He added with transparent honesty. 'And it makes me incredibly clumsy.'



"Do you think that's what's been affecting me?" Clark wondered. "I used to float during my sleep but that mostly stopped once you arrived. You think maybe the flying was finding another way to come out? I was grumpy," He took the thought a little further. "I kept being clumsy all day too…"



'That's very much what I was thinking earlier, however you weren't exactly in a very receptive frame of mind at that point,' Haze reminded him. 'I decided to keep my own counsel for a while and see what happened.'



They were both dressed now, and Haze shrugged his wings out. In that split second, the angel's concentration wavered and Clark barely had time to register what was happening before they were both pulled out of the air and down onto the sand.







'Oops…' Haze gave a grimace of pure embarrassment. 'Now you see exactly why I don't float.' He struggled to rise, but found one of his legs pinned beneath one of Clark's.



Smirking, Clark tried to extricate himself, only to discover that he was as pinned as Haze. Taking another look at their intertwined forms they both started to laugh spontaneously.



"Can't you roll over backwards?" Clark asked, as he got his breath back. "Once you're off me, I can get up."



'Not with my wings out.' Haze shrugged.



"Put them away?"



'Ah, now that would be a bit of a problem from this angle.’ The angel grinned sheepishly. ‘I'm not built to bottom like this!'



"Haze!" He might not have the experience, but Clark was only too aware of one interpretation for what Haze had just said. Flushing, he extracted himself with as much care as he could manage, to avoid impacting his heavy boots anywhere on Haze, then getting to his feet and offering Haze a hand, he pulled the other youth smoothly upright.



'Thanks.' Haze spread his wings and fluffed the feathers out, to dislodge the intruding sand. 'Much better!' He approved. 'Right, I suggest that you float here, and hold one hand up above your head. After I take off I'll circle round and come back, catch your hand in mine, and then haul the pair of us a bit higher before we try anything more complicated? Okay with you?'







As a plan it worked well, and they were both skimming the light breezes within a few minutes. Haze pulled Clark in closer, until he could wrap his arms around his 'twin's' waist. 'Get ready for transition, Clarkster.' He warned.



Clark was bemused. "What?"



'Deep breath, eyes shut, don't yell as we emerge..' Came the order.



"'Kay…"



That was all the warning Clark got. Between one heartbeat and the next the hot bright day turned to cool dark night. Senses Clark didn't know he even had, let alone used, suddenly flared in disorientation. He gulped hard, and looked down to find the farm spread out below his boot soles.



Smoothly swinging them both in for a landing, Haze drifted in around the barn. 'Will you be okay if I drop you the last few inches?' He wondered.



Clark figured that it couldn't be any worse than coming to a halt after he had been running at maximum, "Sure." He whispered, readying himself. As the ground came up, he managed to keep his feet and his balance, stopping after only a few uneasy steps. A huge backdraft accompanied Haze's deft landing. The two of them looked at each other and grinned.



"That was awesome!" Clark sighed. He looked at the light on in the house, and checked the time. Still five minutes to eleven o'clock. Yawning, he looked at Haze. "You wanna fix the tractor tonight?"







Haze put his wings away. 'The tractor can wait,' he decided. 'You need sleep.'



"Like you don't?" Clark smiled back. "After all that, you have to be shattered!"



'Nah.' Haze said softly, citing one of their private jokes. 'I'm good for another million miles before I need a recharge.'



"Haze, what do you do, when I'm in bed?" Clark dared to ask. "When you're not resting?"



'Watch over you, and wonder what it is that you are dreaming about?'



"You can't tell?" For a second, he was almost worried. What if Haze could see into his dreams?



'Clark-bear, I find it hard enough to make sense of what goes on in your head when you're awake…'



"Hey!" Clark suddenly realised he was being teased, and ducked rapidly round behind Haze, binding his arms. "Take that back now, or I'll tickle you!"



'Okay! I know my limitations!' Haze readily agreed as their joint momentum pushed him against the wall of the barn, leaving the other youth pinned under Clark. 'I submit. Take me, I'm yours…'



Of course it was only meant as another joke, but without thinking about it, Clark leant forward, inhaling the fresh, pure scent of sky that was the very essence of Haze. "Deal." He whispered, staring mesmerised at the sweet lips softly parted in surprise only inches from his own.



"Clark? Haze?" On hearing Jonathan's fatherly roar Clark practically jumped out of his skin.







"Boys, you do know it's nearly eleven pm, don’t you?" Jonathan asked, walking around the corner and looking meaningfully at his watch.



"Yes, Dad." Clark replied, relieved to note that there was now a thoroughly respectable distance between himself and Haze.



"So, everything back to normal?" Jonathan asked, "Can we all stop yelling at each other?"



"Yeah, Dad, everything's… uhm… sorted." Clark said.



"You got everything worked out between the two of you then?" The older man glanced at Haze for confirmation.



Haze gestured that it was Clark who had worked things out, and that Haze had only helped.



"You don't know how relieved I am to hear that, boys." Jonathan sighed, putting a fatherly arm around each of them. "Your mother and I hate it when we have to shout. Okay, better get yourselves up to bed. It's been a long day."





* * * * *

They seemed to be back in the barn, except that this time when Clark manoeuvred blissfully close to Haze no one interrupted. Instead, he leaned in and brushed his mouth tentatively against Haze's. "You said you loved me!" He reminded his 'twin'.



'I do love you, Clark.'



Clark sighed with pure happiness. It felt like he had been waiting almost forever to hear those words from Haze. Yes! This is where it starts!



The almost electric current that sprang up between them seared a direct path from his mouth to his groin. Clark groaned, the sound being swallowed immediately into Haze's equally eager mouth. Diligently Clark tracked it with his tongue, chasing the contours of Haze's teeth and lips with total dedication.



"Oh, god…" Clark murmured, never taking his lips off those of his 'twin'. He already knew being up close to Haze felt good, but now he was finally going to find out exactly how good …



"Haze… That's… Uhhmm!"



The button on Haze's jeans opened without even a hint of resistance, allowing Clark to slide the t-shirt up and out of his way. His vision seemed blurry, but the fact that he couldn't see anything didn't matter. There was skin under his palms, wonderfully warm smooth skin…







To Clark's complete delight, Haze responded in kind. His own fingers got busy working inside Clark's open shirt, and up his back, caressing his bare skin with flattened palms. As a firm hand strayed to Clark's left nipple and rubbed over it, finally everything dovetailed perfectly. Clark's instincts cranked up into overdrive, his recently uncoordinated limbs co-operated seamlessly, all of him driving towards the same goal: Haze.



"Want you!" Clark groaned, sure that if he did not at least try to touch every molecule of the perfect body that was pressed to his, he would go utterly insane. He rolled his hips over Haze's, tracing the erection that exactly matched the one in his own pants, and ground against the willing body of his mirror image. The pressure in his nether regions built to straining point.



"Jeans…" Clark managed to choke out, running his palms over Haze's hips and teasing the loose material down. The tightness of Clark's own jeans vanished as the denim tubes were likewise eased down his legs, taking his boxers with them. He was sure he could feel Haze's skin pressed up against his, even if the sensation was a little indistinct.



As Haze returned his passion, a wave built within Clark, rising from the base of his feet and scorching through him, until it finally exploded at his groin with unbelievable force, whiting out his senses and leaving him breathless in Haze's arms.



Wow!!! Clark woke, and for a second wasn't sure if it had been a dream or not, until the slightly unpleasant wet sensation in his boxers alerted him to reality.



Oh… Apparently some of that had been only too real. Unfortunately, just not the parts he would have preferred. Scarlet, he quickly looked around, expecting to see Haze. However, although Clark could still sense Haze just a little way off, the angel was not in the room. Clark was intensely grateful for that.



So where is he? Not that Clark really wanted to be face-to-face with Haze while he was still squidgy, but the absence was unusual and so a little troubling. Carefully he got out of bed and tiptoed along to the bathroom, taking a pair of fresh boxers with him. While he quietly cleaned off the cooling mess, Clark continued to wonder what Haze was doing, and where?







Deciding on a drink of milk before going back to sleep, and clad only in his boxers, Clark moved silently downstairs, hoping that nothing alerted his parents to his activities. How embarrassing would that be? Telling Mom why I'm awake before the dawn? Of course, I could just tell them I was thirsty…



Yes, that was what he would say, if the occasion arose. Now that his brain was becoming a little more active, it also occurred to Clark that since he had regained his flight abilities he could simply float over all of the treacherous and creaky steps, and no one else need ever know he had been here at all.



Now that's a whole lot better use for floating than spending the night banging my nose on the ceiling! Clark decided triumphantly. It was as he was thinking this and passing the living room, that he found the solution to another problem: Haze was asleep on the sofa, the paperback in his hand gradually beginning to slide out from his fingers.



Smiling to himself, Clark very gently appropriated the book and placed it on the coffee table. Turning, he stood a moment and simply looked at his companion. It was so rare that Haze truly slept that these opportunities almost never arose. For that moment, and without anyone else knowing, Clark was able to stare his fill at the shining dark hair, at the heavy fringe of lashes curving over the high cheekbones and at the softly parted lips.



Like in the dream. The thought made Clark blush hotly. Except Haze was wearing a lot less clothes at the end of it…



Stretched out along the sofa, Haze lay with one arm bent behind his head, the other draping gracefully off the sofa cushion where it had shifted after the youth had drifted asleep while reading.



He's even better than I dreamed him …



Not wanting to disturb his 'twin', Clark slipped away into the kitchen and drank his glass of milk, but as he was about to return to bed something made him hesitate. Without questioning why, he tiptoed softly back around the sofa and sneaked another long look at Haze.







Who knows when I'll get the next chance? As Clark stood watching, he noticed a shiver run though Haze. He's getting cold! That thought worried Clark immensely. There was no way that he could simply pad off back up to bed now, not knowing that.



I'd better get Haze to come back upstairs with me.



Very carefully, he eased one hip down onto the edge of the sofa and ran his hand along Haze's arm, so as not to scare the other youth awake. "Haze?" He whispered, "Haze, you should come upstairs with me."



The shivers increased, but Haze did not rouse.



"Haze…" Clark really did not want to upset Haze by waking him suddenly, but he could see that leaving Haze here like this was not a good idea either. The room was really quite cool, and what if Haze caught a chill?



"I'm going to take you up to bed." Clark promised softly, not really expecting that Haze would respond, however as he bent in close and slid his hands under Haze ready to lift him, a curious thing happened.



Sighing, Haze nuzzled against Clark, pressing his face against Clark's chest. From the steady sound of Haze's heart, the other youth was still completely asleep, but something in him was definitely responding to Clark regardless of that. A grin of triumph crept out on to Clark's face despite his best efforts.







Carrying Haze back upstairs, and remembering to float at the right places, Clark got both of them back into the bedroom without incident. Toeing back the covers, he gently rested Haze on the still-warm sheets, and thought about what he ought to do next. Haze was out like a light, but once the two of them were in that bed together, Clark knew that their combined body heat would get uncomfortable rather quickly.



I'll have to take his jogging bottoms off. It wasn't a terribly hard decision, but even so, Clark needed all of his courage to bend over Haze and start the process.



How embarrassing would it be if Haze woke up right now? Or, worse, what if Mom or Dad came in? Tugging the ends of the legs over Haze's feet proved relatively simple, and the loose garments slid away without a fuss. Wide-eyed Clark blinked at the length of bare leg suddenly exposed. And not just leg…



Wow…



Perhaps it was the loss of his only clothing, but Haze suddenly shivered again, turning in a restless fashion.



Hastily, Clark slid into the bed beside his 'twin' and shared the cover between them. It was while he was reaching past Haze to tuck the end around the other boy's shoulder that Haze shifted again, coming to a halt against Clark's naked chest with one arm flung over Clark, pinning the other teen.



Given the position, Clark now had two options, he could try to move and thereby risk actually waking Haze and having some VERY awkward questions asked, or he could simply mould himself against the nicely warming body and catch another few hours sleep himself.



Not exactly a difficult choice…



The bed was warm; the company warmer, and the soft sound of Haze's breathing soon lulled him back to sleep.







"Clark! Haze!" The maternal summons echoed up the stairwell and into their bedroom.



"Mom?" Clark woke sleepily to find his arms full of… "Haze?"



For a moment Haze simply blinked. 'Clark?' The mental voice lacked its usual certainty and instead there was a very definite sense of bewilderment. 'I know I went downstairs last night. How did I get back up here?'



"I, uh, went down for a drink and found you. You were getting chilled. N'soIgotyouundressed'n'backintobedwithme."



The other youth grinned at Clark. 'Can I have just that last part again, in English? And slower?' He asked.



"I got you undressed?" Clark started. "And, uh, back into bed with me?" His voice hitched a little on the last part, and the furious blush practically lit the room. "To warm you up…"



'You undressed me?'



"Mmm." Clark nodded earnestly. It was no good, his voice wasn't going to co-operate any further. By now his entire body was so tense that assuming he was even able to get anything intelligible to come out of his mouth he just knew that he was going to end up sounding like a little girl. A very embarrassed little girl, at that.



'YOU actually undressed ME? While I was asleep?' Haze blinked as he repeated the question.



"Mmmhmm." Haze was so lucky! After all, he didn't need to speak aloud for Clark to hear him…



'And put me in your bed? With you?'



"You sleep pretty soundly, y'know? It wasn't exactly much of an effort." Clark didn't want to ask, but there didn't seem to be anything flowing down the link to give him a clue.



Remaining utterly silent, Haze edged out of the other side of the bed.







"Are you mad at me?" Clark worried.



'Mad at you? For making sure I was comfortable? 'Course not.' Haze wasn't turning round.



"Then why are you shutting me out now?"



'I, uh …'



"You're embarrassed!" That was a first! Normally it was Clark who was mortified, while Haze stayed cool as the proverbial cucumber…



'Not really, but I know that you will be…’ Haze predicted. ‘And that will make me feel uncomfortable.'



"Haze, why?"



'Because certain things embarrass you.' The angel replied cryptically.



Clark was confused. "I didn’t mind us waking up in bed together, if that's what you're worried about?"



'No, it isn't that … At least not exactly…'



"Then what?" Clark really didn't understand now. "And what sort of things, Haze?"



'Bodily reactions, Clark. Adult reactions?'



"Really?" Clark sat up, and then discovered that his body was doing a bit of reacting of its own. "Ah, I …"



'Mmmm.' Haze looked a little pink too. 'Tends to happen to me after I sleep, just like it does to you after you sleep… It's a perfectly natural response, particularly to waking up in close proximity to someone you have affection for.'



"Oh." Clark stored the little piece of information about Haze's affections away for later perusal. Right now most of the blood was deserting his head for a more southerly area and his brain was definitely feeling the loss…



Haze shifted uneasily. 'Cold shower?' He suggested.



"Yeah… Definitely cold… The colder the better…"