Inbetween

Chapter Four: @ me on twitter

I honestly didn't know if I was going to publish this story or not.
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Clark bolted out of his apartment complex twenty minutes late for work. His tie was loose and he was sure his glasses were close to falling off. He hadn't been this flustered for months, but he had stayed up late thinking about Bruce. In fact, it was his fifth time staying up late thinking about Bruce. He frowned waiting for his turn to cross the street.

After the elevator incident with Bruce, they didn't speak for a week and the Kansas trip was around the corner. Clark couldn't stop thinking about what Bruce would think of his home, not that he cared what Bruce thought of his home, of course not. He huffed starting to run again the daily planet finally coming into view. Apologies flew out of Clark's mouth as he bumped into pedestrians.

He finally entered the building and rushed into the packed elevator. He squeezed in and impatiently tapped his foot hoping Perry didn't notice his absence. Clark exited the elevator and rushed to his desk trying to blend in with the other workers who were doing their work.

He looked across his desk to see Lois with an amused smile on her face. He was about to ask her what was so funny when a booming voice startled him.

"Kent! My office now." White demanded.

Clark groaned quietly and placed his bag on his desk gaining a couple of looks from his coworker. He quickly stepped into the office straightening out his tie and making sure his glasses were secure on his face.

"So lovely for you to show up today, Mr.Kent." Perry faced Clark with a deep frown.

"I-I'm sorry Mr.White, it won't happen again." Clark fumbled, "I swear it, sir!"

"Kent, what was the first thing I told you when I hired you?" Perry's tone was stern.

"You have no patience for slackers." Clark murmured fiddling with his sleeve.

"So why would you be off the hook-"

"Perry, we have some breaking news you might want to see this." Lois barged into the room interrupting the conversation.

"You got lucky Kent, now get to work!" He stood up and followed Lois.

Clark sighed before exiting the office and trudging back to his desk. His body sagged and when he took his seat his chair creaked under his weight. He rarely felt exhausted, but when he did he felt as if he couldn't get anything done even if he wanted to.

He spotted Lois and Perry reading a story on her computer both mumbling to one another. Clark could've eavesdropped but thought better of it. Jimmy walked up and took a seat on the edge of Clark's desk a small smile on the younger man's face.

"What do you think they're talking about?" Jimmy hummed as Clark opened up his laptop.

"I don't know, Jim," Clark grunted only half paying attention to him.

"Someone's snippy today." Jim commented and Clark gave him an apologetic smile.

"I haven't been getting much rest lately and it's catching up with me." Clark frowned as he started editing one of his reports, "but it looks like I'm not the only one in a bad mood."

Clark nodded his head towards Perry and Jimmy chuckled, "y'know how he gets when someone he actually cares about is late."

"I know." Clark let out a small huff and Jim stood up patting him on the shoulder.

"Take it easy today, Clark." Jimmy walked away leaving Clark alone with his own fatigue.

Clark read over his report not really reading it, he groaned, rereading it again and still nothing. With an aggravated grunt he rested his head back against his chair and shut his eyes. He sighed rubbing his forehead and opened his eyes once again. He stood up as Perry made his way back to his office not looking Clark's way.