Similis

The softly parted lips beneath his were as delicious as ever, and without meaning to, Clark let the tip of his tongue quest deeper, probing between Haze's teeth. There was no resistance, only a breathy sigh as they both revisited familiar territory.

Tightening his arms around Haze, Clark rubbed his upper body against Haze's, relishing the feel of naked skin against his. Two equally willing arms slid up his back.

"Mine…" Clark hissed, slipping his tongue along the edges of Haze's lips before plunging it back inside. The air in the cave didn't seem as cold as it had before, and when the blanket slipped off, neither youth made any effort to chase it.

Capturing Haze against him, Clark continued to suck and lick his way along the beloved body. When the lights came on around him, he ignored them. They were of no consequence, only Haze mattered, Haze and the pleasure that was building between them.

Evidently the angel agreed, as Haze was returning the favour with full interest. Spreading to their maximum, his wings closed like a curtain around both of them, reducing the light to a mere glimmer.

"Kal-El?"

Stupid machine… Let it wait … It's supposed to do what it's told anyway… Clark wasn't going to be rushed by that collection of circuits or whatever it actually was.

"Clark?" Lex was there somewhere, out beyond Haze's wings and Clark's closed eyes. "Haze?"

Out there, not in here… Haze smirked softly. Awww! The poor baldy-man.

He'll live. Clark dismissed Lex along with the rest of the world. There's no rush, is there? He wondered idly.

'No.' Haze replied. None at all… And this feels SO good… YOU feel so good!

"Naman? Haze?"

Poor Professor Willowbrook… The angel was contrite.

Haze, we'll apologise to him later, just don't you dare stop doing that…

"Oh god, my head … Lex? What the f… Oh God!"

Clark knew that rich dark voice. 'Oops, that’s Bruce …'

He sounds horny. Haze noticed. Hurt, but horny…

Then that's good. Clark was sure that Bruce wouldn't hold this against them. If he's got a headache he probably won't mind waiting a few extra minutes for us to finish first He explained, and even if Bruce did mind, that was going to be tough…

"Clark! Haze! What the hell is going on here?!!!"

Shit! DAD!

Shit! Jonathan!

"I think that did it." Lex observed sarcastically.

"Better than a bucket of cold water." Bruce smirked.

"They did seem to be rather pre-occupied." Willowbrook laughed. "Ah well, they are young and the blood tends to be hot at that age."

"I'll give them both pre-occupied," Jonathan huffed. "I told you before that I don't trust that damn machine one inch, and this is why."

"It is?" Lex blinked. He surveyed the scene in front of them. Was there something wrong with this picture? Half-naked Clark, half-naked Haze, and some very interesting physical byplay going on: Jonathan Kent arriving in mid-snog.

Oh… right…

"Well, I'm sure that there's a very good explanation." Lex offered and then instantly shut up as he found himself on the receiving end of a hard stare from Bruce. Amazingly enough though, just for once Jonathan Kent didn’t seem to be hell bent on blaming this one on the Luthor's.

"It's probably got them brainwashed! That damn thing is obsessed with getting Clark to … produce an heir," Jonathan announced angrily. "It seems to forget that successful breeding requires certain conditions,"

"I think," Bruce interrupted firmly, purposely cutting off what promised to be a highly awkward exploration of animal husbandry, as practised on adolescent Kryptonians.

Both youths gave a sigh of relief.

"That it would be a damn good idea for all of us to get out of here, before something worse happens." Bruce continued. "I don't know about anyone else, but I need a strong coffee and some painkillers, in that order."

"Are you feeling all right now?" Clark asked, pulling himself together and suddenly remembering that Bruce had passed out onto the cave floor somewhere in the last … He glanced at his watch … Half hour? Had it been that long? My, time really did fly when you were having …

Or even almost-having…

Reluctantly abandoning Clark's lap, Haze wandered over to Bruce. Reaching out, he ran one finger along the side of Bruce's head, and then rubbed his palm down along the other man's bicep and elbow.

"Thanks, that's much better." Bruce nodded. "Okay, so amend that request to just a pot of strong coffee…"

Absenting his wings, Haze stalked back to the opening. Standing at the very edge of the wall, he gestured for Clark to come over.

"Haze, that might not be such a good idea…?" Clark started to say, however the tug in his mind convinced him that Haze was going to do it anyway.

"Haze says that you should all get out of here now, we'll make sure you get away safely." He told the others, glancing back at his father and the three other men to make sure they were getting the message.

Picking up his t-shirt and dusting it off, Clark handed it to Haze. "I don't want you getting cold." He told him firmly. "And that part's not negotiable. I went to a lot of trouble to get you healthy again."

Lex's snigger was audible from right across the cavern, but Clark ignored it.

Casually flipping Lex the middle finger, Haze stepped into the light, grabbing Clark by the arm and yanking him through with him.

"No!" Jonathan's shout of dismay was shut off as the cavern sealed around them.

Clark looked at Haze. The two of them were standing inside a large semi rectangular room. The floor, walls and ceiling glowed with a subdued, white light. Privately, Clark thought that it looked rather like a public urinal, which probably said quite a lot about the mind-set of its designer.

"Kal-El." The machine announced smugly. "Are you ready to embrace your destiny? Has everything been completed to your satisfaction?"

Clark thought that over. "Not entirely." He answered with his usual total honesty.

"Not?" The soft humming increased. "Your consort is fully restored. The bonded human was not permanently damaged. All your humans have been permitted to leave the caverns without interference. In what way is this result unsatisfactory?"

"There's one thing in here that I definitely want to embrace." Clark caught hold of Haze and wrapped his arms around him. "And I wasn't given time to get past first base out there." He murmured softly, kissing Haze and sliding one hand down inside the waistband of Haze's jeans.

"You have turned out to be useful for something after all, machine … and by the way, for future reference, you will address Haze with the proper respect."

"As you desire." The mechanism replied carefully.

Haze smiled against Clark's lips, and pressed his firming erection onto Clark's palm. 'Tell ME what you desire…' He offered suggestively.

"Haze…" Clark came to his senses. Was his father right, had they been brainwashed? Could the AI be influencing Haze right now? "Is that thing controlling you in some way?" He demanded.

Haze thought it over. 'No. You know how I am whenever I wake up? I'm just horny.' He added, letting Clark feel the truth of that statement. Hey, still relatively teenage here … besides, you weren’t complaining back in the other cave…'

"That's good." Now that he was sure that Haze had been completely restored and was himself again, Clark could see a 'win-win' scenario shaping up nicely. Certain other things were shaping up nicely too…

"Now that you are here," The machine began.

Raising a finger, Haze pointed it experimentally at the far side of the room. Something in the brightly lit wall began to squeak and then a small section blackened.

"Kal-El, kindly request your Consort not to attack these circuits." The machine asked.

"Oh, I don't reckon Haze is actually attacking you." Clark said with a certain smugness. "Or you'd be in pieces by now. He's a fast worker, and amazingly powerful. See, the problem is that I don't think Haze trusts you." He told it happily, "In fact, I know he doesn't. Actually," He added brightly. "Neither do I."

"This unit is programmed to serve the best interests of the House of El." The machine supplied hastily.

"There is no House of El." Clark reminded it. "Just me. No Krypton, no House, and no Kryptonian women so no chance of little El's…" No damn chance at all if he kept getting interrupted before he had gotten going… And was that was even how you said it?

"While much of that is currently true, the biology of reproduction is relatively simple, these issues can be overcome." The machine stated.

"I'm sure they can." Clark reminded it smoothly, "But we were discussing a little matter of trust…"

"Trust?" The machine definitely sounded uncertain about that.

'It saved me, didn't it?' Haze's mind voice was clear in Clark's head.

"Yes, it did save you, Haze." Clark answered aloud, knowing that the AI was hanging on his every word, and guessing that it couldn't directly intercept Haze's mind speech, although he supposed that the machine might be aware that Haze was doing something.

'Then I won't pull it apart this time.' Haze decided.

"That's nice." Clark smiled. "Could you though? Pull it apart I mean?"

'Yes, molecule by molecule, if I had to. Ask it if I'll have to do that?'

"Haze wants to know if he will have to take you apart?" Clark relayed helpfully. "Molecule by molecule?"

"Kal-El?"

'I really hate it calling me that!' Clark sent grumpily to his 'twin'. He sighed deeply. It was all getting very vexing. 'And it won't stop doing it!' He added.

'Let it call you Kal-El.' Haze's voice was unexpectedly firm.

'Why?' Clark was puzzled about exactly why Haze was being so determined about this?

Haze looked directly at him, his expression serious. 'Because if you do get it to start thinking of you as not being Kal of the House of El, then it just might be able to directly disobey you. I'm sure you can see that there are lots of ways in which that might not be a good thing.'

'Oh…' Clark suddenly accepted the need to be just the tiniest bit accommodating, at least in this one respect.

"Is there something that needs to be attended to?" The machine queried.

"Answer our question." Clark ordered, with a little more resolve in his voice. It was not going to ignore him, no matter what tricks it tried.

"Unable to supply an answer. There are too many variables."

"Guess." He told it.

"Speculate?" The disembodied voice sounded vaguely horrified.

"Yeah."

"Is your consort able to affect all matter?" It asked. "This information is pertinent to the requested answer."

'All matter and all energy. And tell it to address me directly. I may be silent but there's nothing wrong with my ears.'

Clark relayed Haze's reply and the machine churned that over for almost a minute.

"First Consort Haze." It said at last. "Would you consent to demonstrate an example of matter and energy control?"

'I don't do tricks.' Haze's mental voice was tinged with irritation.

Clark sighed heavily. "I'm not being the meat in the sandwich here."

'What?' Haze blinked at him.

"Your pardon, Kal-El?" The device sounded confused.

"Getting bored. Not doing it." Clark said firmly, "Learn to speak to each other." And seeing as there was nothing in the room to actually sit on, he started to practice his floating. Secretly he felt that being able to maintain the Lotus position three feet above the floor should be quite impressive.

Bruce thought so. Clark thought to himself as he suppressed a smirk. Then again, Bruce didn't see the numerous previous attempts.

Most of Clark's earlier efforts in the barn had resulted in curiously shaped dents in the dirt: rounded double dents that matched one particular part of Clark's anatomy perfectly. Thankfully, being invulnerable was one way of avoiding bruises, as well as the embarrassing questions inevitably associated with them, and so Clark hadn’t had to admit anything to anyone.

Concentrating better from the beginning would probably have worked just as well, though.

As Clark floated, it occurred to him that somewhere at the edges of his senses, something odd was going on. There were voices. Two voices, having a conversation. And curiously enough, although Clark was positive that he hadn't uttered so much as a syllable for at least the past five minutes, one of the voices seemed to be his…

"Clark?"

Apparently he now had the ability to talk to himself, even though he wasn't saying a word. That did it for the floating.

"Yeow!" Startled, Clark sat down hard from three feet above the floor. There were no dents this time as the floor was too solid. Thankfully, so was Clark.

Haze winced visibly. "Sorry?" He did look sorry too.

"You're talking?" Clark stared at his duplicate. "How?" He looked closer. "Your lips aren't moving right though."

"Sound waves." Haze shrugged. "Still don't have vocal chords."

"At least you can say that now. Sort of." Clark put a finger in each ear and tested that theory. "Try again."

"What?" Haze looked confused.

Clark smiled at his 'twin'. Yep, definitely making actual sounds. It was novel, as well as kind of intriguing …

"It's a waste of energy communicating like this." Haze complained. "I'm sucking it up at an incredible rate."

"You are?" Thinking of sucking, there were other things that Haze could be doing with that sinfully gorgeous mouth, weren’t there? Clark waited. Sooner or later someone would explain. They always did. And here it comes…

"Haze is correct. Available energy within the system is down 15%." The AI announced with authority.

"And this is only reproducing speech at a conversational volume." Haze grinned. "Imagine what I could do if I shouted?"

Tilting his head, Clark looked at his 'twin'. Clark had gotten used to having Haze's mental voice drifting into his head, even the signs seemed relatively natural by now, but hearing what was effectively his own voice coming from somewhere around him, and without Haze seeming to have anything to do with it, was downright weird. And, oh dear, somehow he seemed to have said that last part out loud.

"Weird?" Haze blinked at him. "Oh, that's charming…"

"Haze." Clark got up from the floor and slid his hands into Haze's. "I love hearing you like this, but I do have a question."

"Clark?" His 'twin' looked at him expectantly.

"Why do you sound like me?"

"Who do you expect me to sound like? Your Dad? Bruce?" Haze asked, but it was still Clark's own distinctive voice that echoed around the small room as his duplicate 'spoke'.

"That could be kinky." Clark chuckled.

"Clark Kent. I cannot believe you just said that." Haze gave him a look of wide-eyed innocence.

The tones were unmistakeable and Clark immediately cringed, dreading a fleeting glimpse of red hair. "Not Mom!" He begged. "No! You're being mean, Haze! You can't expect me to deal with having you sounding like my mother!"

"How do you fancy a Lana?" The artfully projected voice now sounded exactly like the dark haired girl.

"Akk!" Apparently the Lana-effect still worked perfectly on Clark even when he could only hear her voice…

"Lex then?" The bald boy's voice asked.

"Hmm…?" Clark thought that over for a microsecond, which, for him, was more than enough time to reach a decision. Several in fact. "Nah." He grinned wickedly. "Do Bruce."

"Want a ride in my car, little boy?" The gravelly tones were pure Bat, and the sense of humour was pure Haze.

Clark practically wet himself laughing. "Could you still do this voice thing if we weren't in here?" He asked, pulling himself back together.

"Probably." Haze shrugged. "Now that I know how it's done."

"Then let's go to our special place…" Clark whispered.

"But won't everyone worry?" Just for once, Haze was really able to be the 'voice of Reason'.

"Don't they always?" Clark gazed directly into Haze's eyes. "Please, Haze? Just half an hour, alone together? No more. They won't even have gotten back to the farm by then. Not at the pace Dad drives."

Which would frustrate the hell out of Bruce and Lex, who seemed to take it for granted that the world was their own personal racetrack.

Good, it ought to be someone else's turn by now for a little frustration... See how they handle it… Clark supposed that it was a rather uncharitable thought, but right at that moment his moral compass was wavering.

"Half an hour?" Haze seemed to be willing to consider it.

"Thirty minutes max, I promise. Actually thinking about it, I could manage what I need in half that." Clark paused. "Who am I kidding? Even five minutes would probably be enough." He groaned and rubbed his groin against Haze's.

"I'm so hard that if I have to try and sit through another lecture from Dad, I'll probably faint from lack of blood to my brain."

"Oh." The edges of Haze's mouth curled up in a sympathetic grin. "Well, we can't have that, can we?" 'There are too many dents in the barn floor as it is…'

Clark gave him a sarcastic glare, which Haze totally ignored. Bruce gets way more respect than this … and he doesn’t even have heat vision! How come no one takes me at all seriously?

"You are leaving?" The machine, which had evidently been following their external conversation with interest, finally spoke up.

Oh yeah, someone – or rather someTHING does… Even if Clark would rather it didn’t. But there were other things on his mind right now. More interesting things.

"Yep." Clark nodded. "Leaving. Now." He glanced at Haze. 'Shift directly?' He smiled at his 'twin', thinking how cool it was to be an alien, and to be able to do this sort of thing on a regular basis.

"We really ought to test out that everything still works." Haze announced in a remarkably serious tone.

Everything? Clark felt a tingle of excitement at that idea. Maybe they would need the full half-hour after all?

"There is a breach forming in the space-time continuum." For once the machine did not sound anywhere near so smug.

"Mine." Haze agreed.

"You can do that, First Consort?"

"I can probably do just about anything." Haze smiled, "And as you and I discussed in detail a few minutes ago, unless you really want to find out how unpleasant I can get, don't even think about putting any more obstacles in our way. Interesting meeting you, and I do appreciate the healing. Bye."

Wrapping his arms around Clark, Haze let the edges of the phenomenon slide over them both. 'Hey Clarkster, how about we test a few of the nicer things out right now?'

"Haze!" Clark yelled in alarm, finding nothing under his feet but empty air. To his dismay he found that instead of their usual beach, they had emerged somewhere very unsolid and very, very high.

At that same moment, it occurred to Clark that if Haze was still doing his new 'talking' thing, then Clark wasn't likely to be receiving very much of it in the next few minutes because of the way that the wind up here was currently rushing around his ears. Not because he was screaming like a girl, because he definitely wasn't. Nope. Not screaming at all.

Clark's throat started to hurt and he was running out of breath. He really didn't like falling…

'You great soft nelly, Clark! Why are you yelling like that?' Haze's warm mental tones trickled in through Clark's mind at the same time as his hand rubbed over Clark's arm. 'You don't have to fall, you can FLY, remember?'

Diving through the sky without a care in the world, Haze laughed and finally manifested his wings, like a skydiver opening a parachute, but without any loss of momentum. 'Come on! Last one down gets the wet patch!'

The angel angled his body perfectly, and slid confidently through the air like a hot knife through warm butter.

"Git." Clark muttered, holding back on the heat vision. Singeing Haze's feathers was not likely to get him what he wanted, and spending time in close contact with someone who reeked of burnt feathers didn't appeal that much either. And for what he had in mind, Clark planned on getting very, very close!

Watching the dark wings now cutting through the air far below him, Clark deliberately took control of his descent, poured on a little speed of his own and caught up with his angelic duplicate just as the air around them started to show signs of being attached to a sub-arctic location.

Together the pair levelled off and sped along, dogging the white caps on the choppy surf and heading for the distant horizon.

'When I get in position, reach up and grab my hand.' Haze communicated.

'Why?' Clark was bemused. An idea occurred to him. No, surely not?

'We're not going to join the mile-high club, are we?' He asked with mixed feelings. It might be fun, but it would certainly be cold… and a bit exposed…

'Down here? We're only about six feet off the surface right now, so that would be a definite 'no', and what would we do with our clothes?' Haze laughed. 'No, I need contact with you because I want to slide us again.'

'At this speed?' Below them, tiny wave crests were racing past like streaks on film.

'Sure.' Came the amused reply.

'Okay.' Clark figured that if Haze thought they could then they could. The shadow of something with wings coloured the waves beneath him. Clark didn’t need to look to sense that Haze's hand was there. Reaching up, he instantly felt the comforting press of flesh on his flesh.

'We're going to come out over the ocean a little way out from our usual beach.' Haze sent to him. 'We'll need to keep flying for a couple of minutes or so after we emerge. Plenty of time to slow down for landing.'

Entering the curious opening at speed was really little different than at any other time, and Clark found no problem with resuming powered flight once they slid clear on the other side. Just ahead lay their usual island, and the tiny dark triangle Clark now thought of as 'their' cove.

"Why did we do that in two stages?" Clark asked, once they were occupying their customary spot, pulling his jeans off and throwing them to one side. "You usually take us straight there."

Haze discarded his own clothes and dropped them on Clark's. It didn't really matter. After all, everything the boys had was identical. Quite literally.

'Because if that loony machine had any way of tracing where the slide path opened out to, then it didn't seem like a good idea to show it where we like to go.' Haze told him. 'It might decide to leave a few surprises lying around here for the next time we come to visit'.

"Right." Clark caught hold of Haze and pulled him down onto the mattress, making sure that Haze landed on top of him.

'Oh, you are horny…' Haze approved. He rocked his hips against Clark and licked a shiny pink tongue along his upper lip.

"Yep." Clark grinned. "Now, what I want to know, is – can you still talk to me?"

'Talk?' Haze was amused. 'You really want to TALK? Now?'

"No. I want YOU to talk now …" Clark explained. "To me."

'Oh.' The other youth also began to see the possibilities; especially as quite a lot of ideas were already bubbling up inside Clark's mind, and with the two of them this close the mental transfer between them was practically effortless.

"Okay?" Haze asked aloud as he gazed down at Clark.

"Mmm." Clark's grin got wider. "Now, talk dirty to me…"

His duplicate smiled. "Like what?"

"Make yourself sound like me."

"Oh." And once more Haze sounded exactly like Clark did.

Clark had heard his own voice often enough on the messaging machine at the farm to recognise it, but having it coming from Haze did something very interesting to it, and to Clark. He shifted his hips as Haze rested full length against him.

"You mean," Haze asked aloud, with Clark's exact tone and phrasing. "Ask you to do something naughty to me?"

"Yes… " Clark breathed. "Oh, god, yes…"

"Clark," Hot breath teased across the side of his neck, and the tip of a wet tongue traced an interested path around the edge of Clark's ear. "Will you lift me up onto your lap," the words rippled around him.

"Sit up against that rock," Haze's hips ground down against his. "Spread my legs wide." Fingers tweaked a nipple. "Hold me in your arms,"

Haze paused again, bending over to nip at the edge of Clark's earlobe, "and then fuck me," The timbre of the voice went lower, sending delicious shivers through them both, "really, really hard?"

"Oh," Clark was ecstatic.

"And really, really … deep?" Haze purred.

The purr did it. Clark was so close that if Haze had moved by so much as a hair's breadth at that moment, he would have come. However, a request had been made, and Clark was determined to do his very best to carry it out, to the letter. Concentrating on keeping control, he picked Haze up, shifted them both into the requested position, and very carefully angled himself against his duplicate.

Haze nestled against him. "Now." He whispered. "Just there."

"Haze, I want you so much." Clark groaned.

"Then push." Haze told him. "Push up hard … "

Embedded to the maximum, Clark trembled as he fought to hold back the oncoming climax. "Haze …" He moaned. "So good …"

"Come for me, Babe." Haze groaned, his voice hoarse with desire. "Come on, Clark, do me."

Jerking his hips, Clark thrust forward, then allowed himself to slide out, almost to the tip, before plunging back into the snug smooth heat. "Wings." He gasped.

"Wings?" Haze echoed.

"Love to see your wings as I fuck you." Clark tugged at Haze's hips, holding him in place. "Ride me hard."

"Oh, yeah…" Haze shivered his wings out over the pair of them. Rolling his hips he ground down on Clark, fanning out the pinions and using the extra leverage to press Clark harder onto the soft sand, as if he were flying down into him.

The resulting climax tore through Clark like a tidal wave. He felt it rise from the base of his spine, flood up through his aching cock, and finally explode out into Haze.

Reaching across, Clark wrapped one hand around Haze's erect shaft, and deftly applied exactly the right amount of pressure to send his partner rocketing over the edge.

Panting, Haze reached his own peak, and thick splashes of hot white liquid jetted out from him, squeezing out through Clark's fingers and painting both their bellies with glistening patches.

"Mmmm." Clark lay back, utterly spent.

Haze laughed silently, having abandoned his new voice trick as unnecessary under the circumstances, and then bent down over Clark and bestowed a deep, sweet kiss on him. 'Now that,' Haze communicated, 'was an excellent idea…'

"I thought so." Clark grinned weakly, soaking up the sunshine like a sponge and waiting for his knees, and other things, to stop shaking.

'I bet if we described that to Bruce he would give us anything for a go…' Haze suggested suddenly.

"What do you want him to give you?" Clark wondered, curious that Haze would choose that particular phrase.

'A weekend for the three of us in Gotham?' The angel answered.

"What do you want to go back to Gotham for? Didn't you see enough of it while we were there?" Clark pouted, and didn’t care. "Anyway, it isn't exactly a very pretty city, is it?"

'Who mentioned anything about seeing the city? I wasn't planning on leaving the house.' Haze gave him a suggestive wink. 'Maybe not even setting foot outside the bedroom?'

Clark grinned. "Actually a weekend in Gotham might be very educational." He said casually. "All that art and stuff."

"Stuff?" The voice was Bruce's to perfection and Clark was about to press a hasty hand to Haze's face to stop the other youth from saying anything else, when he remembered precisely why his fingers were still sticky, and that Haze might not appreciate him quite literally handing that back to its original owner.

Clark also remembered that, since Haze wasn't limited to talking only with his mouth, simply covering that orifice wouldn't hinder the angel from continuing to pass on whatever messages he wanted, and Haze could be amazingly descriptive at times.

It also occurred to Clark that if pushed too far, Haze would hold a grudge like no one else on the planet…

Washed and dressed, they transferred back to the farm. The instant his feet touched the floor, Clark was stricken with remorse: how had he been so selfish? Everyone would have been waiting for the pair of them to get back safely, and he had only been intent on …

Well, it had been nice. Really nice, actually. In fact if Clark found that he was going to be diced and served up as the main course at the barbecue, he would probably die happy…

'Barbecue? Diced?' Haze waved a hand in front of Clark's nose. 'What are you wittering on about, Clarkster?'

"We're gonna get screamed at the second we walk through the door." Clark reminded him reluctantly. "And it's all my f…"

The rest of the words failed to come out of his mouth, as Haze's hand seemed to suddenly be in the way. 'Not the 'f' word, Clark! I'm going to get you therapy if you keep volunteering yourself for blame like that.'

'Maybe I need therapy?' Clark replied mentally, not wanting anyone else to overhear them.

'Not the sort of therapy I'm going to arrange… ' Haze advised him cryptically. 'Now, before you worry yourself into an early grave … I cheated just a bit when I shifted us. Walk in through that door with your head held high, and if you need any extra help in dismissing the guilt, just remember that I was just as keen as you were, and I made it all possible. Plus, I'll take it very personally if you let yourself get all stressed up again after we both worked so hard to unstress you…'

"'Kay…" Clark said doubtfully. "Haze, is there even such a word as 'unstress'?" He stood and thought about it.

'Do I look like I care? If you want to see if it's in the dictionary, go look! And if it isn't then grab yourself a crayon and write it in there yourself. Now, stop slacking and get indoors!'

Already barefoot, Haze sighed and gestured down at Clark's bootlaces, which obligingly undid themselves.

'You're really hanging this out, aren't you, Clark? Lex would have a field day if he could see you like this… C'mon!' Pushing Clark back against the wall, he grabbed hold of Clark's left leg and, lifting it at the knee, deftly yanked Clark's boot off.

"Haze?" Clark blinked. "What are you doing? Hey! Lemme go!" It did him no good to protest, as he was pushed firmly back against the wall again for a repeat performance with the other leg.

As usual, Kryptonian resistance was no match for angelic determination, especially as Clark would never deliberately exert even a fraction of his super strength against his counterpart, in case he hurt Haze by accident.

"What are you doing?" Clark protested weakly.

'Whining is not at all attractive… Even from you.' Haze warned him. 'I'm just helping you get inside quicker.' The instant the second boot dropped to the floor beside the first, they were banished directly to the boot rack, at a gesture from Haze.



"Haze! Clark!" Martha rushed out. "You're back!" She flung her arms around Clark in a massive hug. "Bruce just rang from your Dad's truck! We were so worried about you!" She turned her attention to Haze. "Oh, Haze, you're healed!" She looked him over. "Are you sure you're completely alright again, Sweetie?"

"Of course he's alright." Clark grumbled, feeling instantly smothered.

"But how did you both get home so quickly?" Suddenly Martha was squeezing Haze as if she couldn’t quite believe he was real.

Oh no, she wasn't going to cry, was she? Clark instinctively cringed.

"We tricked the computer into thinking that I was behaving more like Kal." He heard himself saying it, and looked at Haze in astonishment. The sounds were coming from just about where Clark was standing, but it was definitely Haze making the comment. Arms around Martha, Haze winked over her head at Clark, and finally Clark understood…

"So it let everyone else go without a fuss, and then after we showed it that we weren't going to let it push us around any more, Haze slipped the two of us out," Clark finished for himself.

"Well, everyone else is safely on their way back." Martha said happily, finally letting go of Haze, and giving Clark another affectionate squeeze. "Supper's ready. Since you're here you can help me get it on the table. C'mon Clark! Inside!"

Even after walking into the otherwise empty house, Clark was still somewhat surprised to find that they were back first. He checked his watch… Odd? According to the clock on the wall it was 7.30pm but his watch was showing 8.15pm.

"Actually, I'd better quickly call Bruce so he can tell everyone that you're both back safe already." Martha said hurriedly. She bustled off to the phone.

While his mother was dialling, Clark stared at Haze. 'What did you do?' He asked silently.

'Cheated'. Haze looked smug. 'Why so surprised? I told you I had."

'Cheated?' Clark remembered to blink. 'How?'

'When I brought us back, I set the return time to here for a few seconds after we entered the light chamber.'

'Then they're …?'

'Just leaving the caves…' Haze agreed, 'And technically we're also just arriving on the other side of the world, ready to shag your brains out. Don't worry about it.' Finishing setting the cutlery he stood waiting for Clark to fetch the glasses.

'Clark? Glasses?' Haze prompted, when Clark didn’t move fast enough.

Clark just continued to stare. He didn't think that he was up to doing anything more complicated than that, at least for the next few minutes. Could you have your brains shagged out? He was beginning to think that it might just have happened to him. Or should that be 'still happening'?

"Clark?" Martha returned. "Are you alright?"

"Fine." He managed to say.

Martha hurried back out into the kitchen to see to a pan that was about to boil over. "Are you sure, sweetie?" She called.

"Just peachy." Haze 'said' in Clark's voice.

Clark sat down hard. Peachy? No one said that any more. He was so going to kill Haze … He stared at the chair. Better get Haze to fix the chair first though… He settled for glaring at his 'twin'.

"Clark?" Martha peered around the corner. "Is something wrong?"

Having generously undone the damage to the dining chair, Haze signed that Clark was …

"Haze! I'm not dumb …" Clark protested. He looked at his mother. "Well, I'm not!"

"Clark, maybe you should go and have a lie down till everyone gets back?" Martha suggested. "You seem a little …overwrought."

"The day I've had, anyone would be." Clark muttered. Next thing Mom would be asking him if he wanted to take a nice nap…

Sighing, Haze went and fetched the glasses, and laid them out.

"Would you like to have a nice nap?"

Clark stiffened in disbelief as he heard his mother say the dreaded words.

"No, I wouldn't…" He started to say, and then suddenly something occurred to him. Looking round he stared suspiciously at his 'twin'.

Haze was grinning from ear to ear, and holding his sides.

"You …" Clark couldn't find the words.

By now tears of laughter were running down Haze's face.

"What, sweetie?" Martha came back in and placed a basket of fresh bread on the table.

"Nothing, Mom." Clark sighed, staring daggers at his 'brother'. "Haze was just teasing me."

"Did it work?" His mother asked mildly, smiling at him.

"Yes." Clark admitted. "Haze got me good." He smiled at his 'twin'. "Alright, I give up…you win."

Haze padded over and, wrapping both arms around Clark, hugged him hard.

Giving in to the impulse, Clark squeezed back.

"Hey you two! Get a life!" Lex walked in through the door, "Or at least get a room…"

Letting go of Clark without a hint of embarrassment, Haze signed that not only did they already have a room but they also knew how to use it.

"I know." Lex winked, suggestively patting the pocket where he kept his cell phone. Haze merely laughed, while Clark felt his face flame.

"Hey, my two favourite lads!" Bruce arrived. "Seeing as you got here first, is my coffee ready yet?" He asked.

"Coffee?" Clark remembered the last few minutes in the cave.

"I don't know…" Bruce sighed theatrically, "Nearly kill myself saving the pair of you, and what do I get? Ignored. Abandoned…"

"I'll get you some coffee." Clark offered, and trotted off into the kitchen to see to it.

"There. See that Haze? Your brother knows how to treat a guest." Lex laughed.

Bruce simply grinned and flopped down on the nearest sofa. "I'm shattered." He said, "And to think that Alfred worried that I might be bored here!"

"Bored?" Lex couldn't believe it. "In Smallville?"

"Yeah, kind of hard to believe, isn't it?" Bruce smiled. "Still, maybe the rest of the weekend will be a little less taxing? What do you think, Haze?"

Haze merely smiled sweetly. 'Want to have some fun?' He communicated silently to Clark.
'Fun?' Even from the kitchen Clark could feel the undertones of mischief. 'What sort of fun?' After the way today had gone, Clark wasn’t sure he was ready for too much more excitement.

A thrill of amusement tingled down their connection.

'Well, it seems to me that now I can 'talk' out loud just like you can, it's going to be almost impossible for anyone else to tell us apart.' Haze replied.

Oh! Clark thought that over. Oh, yeah!!!…