Apple Kings by jessica
Words: knuckle, elect, sober.
Thomas doesn't think pot works on him. Everyone just laughs as they pass the joint around again and waits for him to fall over. Thomas is the first and he never remembers what happens after.
Ethan loves the story of the time Thomas set Clark's rug on fire. He usually tells it on stage when Thomas misses a cue.
"You guys ever hear the one about the stoner who didn't know he was stoned?"
The story's really not that great - one of those 'you had to be there' kind. It's all in the way Ethan tells it. He holds the crowd until the punchline ("He's covered in foam and I just didn't have the heart to tell him the rug wasn't on fire. I had the heart to grab my camera, though.") and he has them for every song they cram in afterward.
It's a sober Thomas who meets Clark at the diner on a Tuesday afternoon. Ethan has class; they shouldn't have to worry about anything catching (even imaginary) fire.
"Hola, mi amigo," Thomas calls out when he spots Clark in a booth at the back.
"Dobny den," Clark parrots back in Czech.
It takes a moment, but Thomas manages to wriggle out of his sweater. Clark laughs at the performance.
"Do you think we could possibly be bigger dorks?" he asks.
Thomas sticks a foot out from under the table to point out his new plaid Chuck Taylors. "I don't think so."
The waitress comes over, pouring coffee for them both, and dropping another handful of creamers on the table. As she sets the pot down, a spray of coffee flies up and just barely misses Clark's open notebook on the way down. Her pad and pen at the ready, she asks, "Anything else, boys?"
"Pie, I think." Thomas looks to Clark. "Apple."
She writes in big loopy letters, her hand working frantically and much too long for Thomas' liking. He cranes his neck, but her notes are undecipherable, like those of his therapist.
He waits till she's gone back around the counter and the diner feels empty again. "Can I ask you a question? About Lex?"
Clark slams his book closed, reaches out to crack his knuckles with exaggeration, then folds his hands in front of him on the table.
"Finally, a subject I know something about. Ask away."
Thomas clears his throat. "What happened after you guys first slept together?"
He doesn't miss a beat. "My mom threatened to hurt him."
"Seriously?" Thomas chokes.
"I had this loft in the barn. We ended up doing it on this old couch, and my mom walked in."
Laughing, Thomas says, "This is why I live on campus."
"So, then we're sitting in the kitchen, the three of us. She says, 'Hurt him and I'll hurt you. Do you want more pie?'"
"Then you had more pie."
"Then we had more pie."
The waitress is back with their own, and they fall into silence with the first few bites.
"That must have been incredibly embarrassing," Thomas says with his fifth forkful.
Clark has a mouth full of pie, and holds up a finger in lieu of answering right away.
"Franny's worth it," he says after swallowing.
Blushing, Thomas looks back down to his plate.
Clark holds up a forkful of apple and pastry. "Mom's is better."
"Yeah?"
"You guys will have to come home with me sometime. Smallville elects its Apple Queen next month."
Thomas grins. "Will there be pie?"
06/11/03