Similis

Clark woke to early morning light in his eyes and a new, but pleasant, weight on his chest. Everything else around him was thoroughly familiar, from the faded paint of his parent's guest room to the neatly pressed sheets.



Under him something in the old mattress squeaked slightly in time with his heartbeat. From somewhere off to one side came the sound of his human father 'breathing heavily' as Jonathan referred to it whenever anyone accused him of snoring.



The pillow smelt slightly of the usual fabric conditioner and was still creased in places from being stored in the heat of the airing cupboard.



And then there was his 'passenger'…



At first Clark simply lay there, thoughts wandering as his waking mind ran back over the events of the previous day. After a few seconds more introspection, curiosity won out. Craning his neck, Clark looked down along his own chest at the dark wavy hair of the person resting on him, and at the wings spread out across them both like an exotic bedspread.



As he thought more about it, Clark began to realise that those were someone else's arms resting flush along his ribs, his own arms currently being located somewhere between the underside of those wings and the broad back from which they sprang. From this position it must be the angel's right leg that he could feel inserted between his own, the youth's matching limb being the warmth currently pressed against the outside of Clark's left thigh.



Under other circumstances, and particularly with his father drowsing in the room only a few feet away, Clark should have felt uncomfortable, as it was he felt anything but. This felt unbelievably natural and right, as though a part of him that he had never even known was missing had suddenly been returned to him. He sighed in contentment and shifted, as if by doing so he could somehow get even closer to the person lying in his arms, but even as he settled again, the body that lay over his abruptly roused into full wakefulness.



Two pairs of identical eyes met in bemusement and for a second, neither knew quite what to do.



The first hint of a shy smile teased at the mirror reflection of his lips as Clark's passenger began to take notice of his surroundings.



Clark smiled back, as uncertain of the protocol in these situations as his duplicate seemed to be. "Hi… uhm … Haze." He murmured. "We met last night. I'm Clark…" Blushing furiously he extracted his arms from around the angel and waited.







Rousing, but still muzzy, Hayzir found himself still in intimate contact with the same youth from the previous night. While the youth mumbled an awkward greeting and stared up at him, Hayzir rapidly expanded his senses. Thankfully his first proper taste of this new world found no taint of contamination.



The enemy has no hold here…



Falling back on his survival training, the angel re-engaged the processes that would gradually familiarise him with the feel of his new surroundings. For the moment at least, this location seemed safe enough, if rather different from what he had been used to. Memory supplied flashes of the recent past, of the pain arriving here had caused, and of the generosity of the person currently in close contact with him.



I am changed! Blinking, Hayzir realised that he felt different. His body had altered, the muscle and bone structures were bulkier, and there were processes going on that he had no previous experience of, a strange rhythmic pounding within the flesh, and the oxygenation process apparently now required direct external input.



Curious. Chancing another fleeting glance at the person in whose arms he rested, Hayzir detected similar sounds from within the flesh on which his head was resting. Probably normal enough for these bodies then?



I must have adapted… Briefly Haze recalled the lessons of his childhood. On arriving in a place that could not sustain his original form, his body would have automatically mimicked whatever qualities were essential for continued survival here.



This body is no longer quite how it was! He had essentially been remodelled, taking a native… presumably this youth … Clark … as a template.



What did he just call me? Haze? The fog still swirling in his head, combined with the flood of new sensory impressions, made sustaining coherent thought difficult. That was to be expected, given recent events. The fatigue would go, once he had fully adapted and restored his energy to more a normal level.



Hhmm … Seems oddly right given how fuzzy my thoughts are… As I am no longer who I was, I shall be Haze from now on … More of the information that had been instilled into the angel during his early years resurfaced.



Assuming that I have indeed been based on Clark … along with his language I now have copies of his memories. Yes, that would account for my current confusion. Once his memories are fully integrated I should be fine. In the meantime, I shall have to accept being less than coherent, at least some of the time.



One of the sudden flashes of intruding thought burst in on his introspection and gifted Haze with a touch of insight into his 'twin'.



Clark … Kal-El … is not of this world either, and that bothers him… Delicately Haze probed his host but Clark seemed oblivious to the contact, although he seemed pleased enough to be sharing space with Haze.

Evidently neither his own kind nor the native peoples of this place use telepathy to communicate.



For a second, Clark seemed to notice that he was being observed. Watching the sudden heat bloom on the tanned cheeks of his host, Haze dipped deliberately into the stolen knowledge to catalogue and identify the reaction of the other youth.



Embarrassment? Clark is young, and not yet at ease with himself … but he has a gentle and honourable soul... I am certainly fortunate to have chanced upon him The angel smiled at that revelation: Clark was still some way from acquiring the confidence of full maturity, but the intimacy of their current position left Haze nowhere to rest, except directly on top of Clark.



Odd … He does not seem unhappy with our current arrangement … His arms remain firmly in place around my ribs. Then why blush? Meeting Clark's enquiring gaze, Haze continued to work on his understanding of his young saviour. He could not yet understand all of the other lad's speech, but the underlying meaning seemed clear enough. Full comprehension would not be long in coming. Satisfied with his mental state, Haze stretched carefully; ready to begin evaluating his new physical form.







"I was kinda worried about hurting your wings." Clark breathed, not wanting to wake his father. "Are they okay?" As he spoke it occurred to him that Haze might not even understand English. After all, Clark hadn't when he had first arrived here in the lifepod from Krypton.



As he puzzled over how to breach the communication gap, Clark felt the other's centre of balance shift upwards as the wings lifted ceiling-wards. While he knew they were there and so should logically have expected this, Clark was still taken off-guard as the massive sails rose into the air above them. The corded muscles in the other youth's chest rippled smoothly as they tightened to compensate for the change in posture.



WOW! Wide-eyed, Clark bit his lip at the play of smooth flesh beneath his palms. It was either that or yell, and he did NOT want to wake his Dad … Or startle his 'passenger'.



The dark pupils dilated. The arms at Clark's sides bent, taking the weight off of him. Steadily, the angel drew himself clear of Clark and stretched gloriously, methodically testing each muscle group in turn.



Breathing heavily, Clark stared in awe at the display of easy perfection. "You're beautiful." He told their guest softly, too mesmerised to register even a hint of embarrassment, until practicalities intruded. "I guess that most of my clothes would fit you," He murmured. "Except... how are we ever going to hide those?"



The angel tilted his head and met Clark's eyes. The faint smile returned, warming Clark as thoroughly as the early sunbeams creeping through the slatted blinds across the room.



Lifting his shoulders the newcomer gave a strange half-shrug and the wings blurred and were gone! The instant reduction in weight wrung a creak of protest from the ancient mattress springs.



Clark sat up straight and felt his jaw drop.



The other smiled, and taking Clark's hand, guided it so that Clark's palm brushed over the flawless skin. Dumbstruck, Clark allowed himself to be led, sliding his palms over the powerful shoulders and down the sculptured ridge of the spinal column.



"Gone?" He mouthed. "For good?" He was immediately devastated at the thought that those exquisite wings might somehow be lost.



Haze shook his head and stretched slightly, and Clark pulled his hand back in awe as the feathers along with the more solid underpinnings rematerialised again almost under his very fingertips.



"Gosh." It was all that Clark could manage given the shocked state of his brain at that moment. The smile widened, and his new acquaintance shrugged the fascinating items away again.



"Neat." Clark decided, and sparing a glance at the still-drowsing form of his father sprawled out in the upholstered chair. "C'mon, and don't wake my Dad!" Taking his duplicate by the wrist, he pulled their guest from the spare room, and tugged him along the passage to his own bedroom.







Closing his bedroom door softly behind them, Clark grinned. "I always wanted a brother!" He confessed excitedly. "And now here you are! And we even look alike! How weird is that?"



His duplicate tilted his head and stared at Clark.



Clark coloured and wondered if he was behaving entirely rationally? But then it wasn't everyday, even in Smallville, that you met a carbon copy of yourself, who just happened to fall from the sky right in front of you, and who had optional wings…



Shaking his head, Clark pulled his mind back to the present only to find himself still the subject of that same intense and silent scrutiny. He decided that it was only reasonable that Haze should be as curious about Clark, as Clark was about Haze…



Together they stood, toe to toe, each taking the measure of the other.



After a several moments of intense cogitation, both picked the same instant to move, each of them reaching out their right arm and placing it on the left shoulder of the other.



Clark chuckled as Haze's hand cupped his bare shoulder in a friendly, but still oddly intimate way. While Haze made no sound his eyes twinkled with obvious amusement, as if he too, were enjoying the moment. Encouraged, Clark wriggled his fingers in sequence over the other teen's exposed skin. Haze grinned, showing white teeth.



"Yeah, it is kinda strange." Clark agreed, wondering if that was what Haze would have said. He wondered if Haze sounded like him too? "We're like mirror images?" He added.



The puzzled frown that appeared on the other boy's brow was Clark's to a 't'.



"Mirror?" Clark told him, "You know? Like looking at yourself in the mirror?" From the blank expression in the face of his 'twin', it was apparent that Haze had no idea of what Clark was trying to tell him.



"C'mon!" Clark slid his hand down Haze's arm, and catching him lightly around the wrist, hauled him almost bodily along the passage and into the family bathroom.







If Haze objected to this cavalier treatment he gave no sign of it, merely followed Clark without resistance until they were both in the bathroom with the door firmly shut behind them.



Stepping behind his 'twin', Clark turned Haze until they were both facing the full-length mirror. "See?" He asked.



Haze tilted his head and gazed at their reflection. After blinking a few times, he reached out one hand and touched the mirror tentatively with one fingertip.



Clark held his breath, suddenly worried that the other lad might have the same screwy strength that Clark had and that the very fragile mirror could well end up in pieces on the floor, however, when nothing bad happened he relaxed again.



Haze shrugged, as Clark de-stressed, apparently satisfied that everything was as it should be. Curiously he didn’t seem anywhere near as interested in looking at his own image in the mirror as he was in watching Clark and Clark's reflection.



Perhaps he's still worried about how I'm taking it? Clark looked over Haze's shoulder, at the scene reflected in the glass. From where he stood he could see both himself and Haze.



This has to be the weirdest thing ever! Those were his fingers curled over Haze's shoulders, weren't they? Which of us is which? Wriggling his fingers, Clark saw the action duplicated within the mirror. THAT'S me... Less than a handspan in front of him was Haze's back. Clark simply stood, staring past the back of his own head, or rather it was not HIS head, across the room at the mirror-image of the pair of them … Although Clark already suspected that there would be no difference there either, if he were ever to find a way to actually look at himself from behind.



Giving up before he gave himself a headache from too much thinking Clark turned his attention back to the glass, matching the image to what he was accustomed to seeing of himself every day.



So those were Haze's face, arms, hands, bare torso, abs ... ?







Not going there … so not going there! Clark panicked. He was not going to size up another guys equipment! At least not while anyone else is watching, he told himself firmly. Rapidly he forced his eyes down to the more neutral territory of Haze's thighs, knees and feet.



Haze turned, and gazed directly at Clark. Lifting one hand he brushed back a stray curl that had flopped forward over Clark's eyes.



Clark had the distinct impression that his permission was being sought, but for what? "Uhmm… Maybe I'm going mad, but did you want something?" He asked carefully.



Haze nodded. He lifted his right arm and then lightly placed the flat of his palm on Clark's bare chest, watching Clark as if he were concerned that Clark would protest. Either that or he was worried about hurting him?



"It's okay." Clark reassured him. "I got to poke around at you, so I guess that you should have the same rights. I," He found himself suddenly tongue-tied. "uh, don't mind?" It wasn't the most intelligent thing he could have said, and he knew it, however it seemed to be the best that he could manage at that exact moment. Damn his brain for going all 'teenage' on him when what he desperately wanted was to make a really cool first-impression.



Haze seemed to have understood, as he commenced gently exploring Clark, starting with his face, which apparently met with Haze's approval, as he gave Clark a quick smile before turning his attention to Clark's hair.



"I'm kinda dirty." Clark confessed sheepishly. "I need a shower. I was out fixing the fence with my Dad when you arrived, and I didn't want to miss a minute last night." He tried to see what exactly Haze was looking at, but the other was moving around him, lightly pressing his fingers down Clark's back, tracing his shoulder blades with pleasantly warm hands.



"Uh, I don't have wings." Clark admitted, realising how unnecessary the comment probably was, as the other boy could see that fact perfectly well for himself.



Although maybe he thinks I can put them away like he does with his? That started Clark wondering again exactly what Haze HAD done with his wings? Seeing it, and even practically feeling it, had not helped him understand, and in fact had made him even more curious.



Reappearing around Clark's left shoulder, Haze stood level with him, glancing across at the mirror and resting his palm above Clarks head and then his own.



"Same height." Clark agreed. He looked down. "Same foot size too, I guess?" Taking the initiative, he manoeuvred Haze's palm up until he could press his own against it, fingertip level with fingertip, wrist level with wrist. Every joint and ridge aligned perfectly. How weird was that?



"I'd better get on with my chores." Clark suddenly remembered that time was passing. "You want to shower first? Or go in after me?"

Haze tilted his head uncertainly.



He didn't know what a mirror was, so perhaps he doesn't know what a shower is either? Well, at least that part was not new territory for Clark, not after all those years of sharing showers after Phys Ed. at school, even though he'd never had a 'brother' before.



"Okay. Together." Clark decided. No sense being shy. He told himself that there truly was nothing here that he hadn't seen before, except for the actual angles involved. Given time he might even come to believe that…



"You get my back, and I'll get yours." He offered quickly, something about Haze's silence made him feel like taking charge of the other boy. Like Haze was still a little lost, or something?



Clark grinned, deciding that he was going to work on making his 'twin' feel as at home here as possible. Pulling off his pyjama bottoms, he stood as naked as Haze. It was almost inevitable that as he dropped the thin fabric onto the floor, they both glanced down…



"Wow…" Clark managed to say, before his blush hit boiling point. The look in Haze's eyes echoed the sentiment. Identical … to the very last visible detail.







"Oh yeah! Haze, you're getting it just right!" Clark approved. The fingers on his back felt just exactly like his own would have done, but there was no way Clark could have managed to get at that bit quite so well, even if he had somehow learned how to bend his arms back the wrong way for his elbows. He decided that having Haze here could be a good thing. Possibly a very good thing…



Patiently Haze rinsed off the last of the soap and passed Clark the washcloth.



"It's not going to do your wings any harm, is it?" Clark had a sudden thought. "I mean, even though I can't see them, they're still around somewhere, aren't they?"



In answer, Haze smiled and slapped the soap firmly into Clark's open palm.



"Okay! I get the hint!" Laughing softly, Clark did his duty.



As they emerged from the shower, Clark was pleased to notice that bathing together resulted in significantly less mess than he usually made, plus it was quite fast, even though he had only been moving at human speed. Maybe his mom would even approve? Not that he planned on telling her. Ever. Idly he wondered if Haze could match his 'extra' speed, and determined to find a way to test that out later.







Taking Haze back into his room, Clark then laid out two sets of his clothes and indicated that Haze should take one pile. For a moment his 'twin' simply stood and looked at him.



"It's okay. Everything's clean, and I don't mind sharing with you." Clark told him, realising that he really didn't mind. Then it occurred to him that perhaps Haze actually had no idea of the processes involved?



He swallowed, allowing his eyes to rove over the smooth contours of Haze's body, and the light golden skin that almost glowed in the increasing daylight. It occurred to him that he could well have been presented with the perfect opportunity to treat Haze as a giant dress-up doll. Somewhere in his mind was the urge to touch …



It wouldn't be right… Firmly denying the impulse, Clark started to dress himself. By the time he was pulling on his outer shirt, the other boy had caught on, copied Clark's actions, and was already mostly decently covered.



Looking round in time to watch the slide of one of his t-shirts down the other youth's rippling six-pack, Clark absently wondered if he hadn't just lost an ideal chance? The view had definitely been just that little bit more interesting before. Dismissing the idea, he noticed Haze watching him, and found himself intensely gratified, gaining a pleasantly warm feeling from the silent attention.







As they made their way to the kitchen, Clark made sure that Haze got the full guided-tour of the house on the way. Not that there was that much to show.



"That's milk." Clark told Haze, passing him a cup to put it in. "Never drink it out of the container." He blushed. Hypocritical, much?



"I don't want to be told off for giving you my bad habits," He said quickly. "Mom hates anyone drinking things straight out of the carton."

Haze seemed to understand as he immediately filled the cup and took a long swig.



"You like?" Somehow the answering silence felt positive to Clark, so he poured out two bowls of his favourite cereal, and popped double rations of toast into the toaster.



Apparently their taste buds were the same too, with Haze eating just as much as Clark, but then he reflected that Haze was probably still recovering from the shock of his arrival, and that could change. If it didn't then his mother was going to have to double the grocery shopping…



* * * * *



The chores sped past, with Haze apparently having no more difficulty with lifting the bulky hay bales than Clark, although he didn't seem to move at quite the same pace. Purposely Clark kept going, but continued to monitor his 'twin' closely.



I'm good for a while yet, but maybe Haze is getting tired?



There had been twenty-five bales waiting for them that morning. Already they had already moved ten between them and Clark was one up on Haze, but he figured that it was down to being more used to what he was doing, that and knowing where the things went. He glanced at the stack. There were still an awful lot of bales waiting, and Clark was torn between having the help and being responsible for upsetting Haze's well being.



"Maybe you shouldn't be doing that, so soon after being hurt, Haze?" He suggested.



Haze glanced at him from under thick eyelashes and smiled. He certainly seemed to be fine now.



"Let's take five?" Clark said, indicating the untouched pile. "I mean stop for a bit?" A five-minute break would be okay. He could speed through some of it later anyway. "It doesn't matter as long as we get done before Dad comes out." He added, thinking how handy it would be if there was some way to move the whole lot in one go. Of course, given the weight and the bulk of the stack that was never going to be practical, even for him.



Haze shrugged, and before Clark could so much as protest, waved one hand at the heap of bales, and stretched his fingers out wide. Closing his fingers on the empty air he narrowed his eyes in concentration, and the stack rose very slightly into the air. Not one or two, but the entire fifteen remaining bales.



"That wasn't a hint Haze, but neat…" Clark swallowed his surprise and hoped he hadn't looked too gormless. "Really."



If he had been at all hesitant about showing off any of his abilities in front of Haze, Clark wasn't any longer. Now that he knew that Haze had more differences than just the wings, it opened the way for further revelations.



"Okay, …" Clark told his new friend, after admiring the last of the bales sinking perfectly into place. "I can't do that, but I can do this …" Readying his heat-vision, he pointed at the storm lamp hanging on the far wall, and lit it.



Haze grinned in obvious approval. He closed his fist and across the room the flame vanished. Opening his hand again, he revealed that the flame was now dancing on his bare palm.



Curious, Clark stretched out his own hand, feeling heat radiating out from above Haze's palm.



"How come it can still burn, Haze?" He wondered, watching the flickering flame. "There doesn't seem to be anything there for it to feed on?"



Haze pointed with his other hand, and as near as Clark could figure it, indicated that the flame was still over in the lamp, while also being in his hand.



Perhaps that was what he does with the wings? Whatever it was, it looked like a cool power. Impressed, Clark eyed the cupped palm with interest. "Are you heat proof too, like I am?" He asked.



Haze shrugged.



"Maybe not all the way, but some?" Clark guessed.



That seemed to be the case. Haze nodded his head and blew on his palm. The flame vanished. He brushed his hands against the legs of the borrowed jeans, and then flashed an apologetic look toward Clark.



"I forgive you, man. I do that all the time!" Laughing out loud, Clark decided that this was going to be great!



"Race you back to the house!" He told Haze and breaking into moderate 'Clark' speed, shot out into the yard.



As he neared the gate, Clark chanced a quick look back to see how far behind Haze was. What he saw was a surprise.



Where is he? Clark looked around, finding no sign of Haze. Dropping out of 'Clark time' he skidded to a halt on the soft dirt.



"Haze?" Something deep in Clark started to feel wrong. Very wrong.