“What are you—“ Clark’s voice trails off with a soft noise of protest as you squish his cheeks together again, making his mouth puff up in a way he knows looks ridiculous. He can already feel his face growing warmer, which is stupid. He’s a very grown, very super-powered man.

His shoulders slump as he gives into your touches, clearly resigned. He should’ve know better than to expect you had matured since he saw you last. You’re still very much the same friend that made it your mission to bother him every day on the farm.

Clark could easily get you to stop. You’re only human — one flick from him would probably send you through the wall. But he wouldn’t do that, not only because he was secretly very fond of you, but because he not-so-secretly kind of liked the attention he was getting. It had been far too long since he’d been able to hang out with you, and phone calls really weren’t enough to stop him from missing you.

He knows he could always visit more. Hell, he could run or fly back to Smallville in mere minutes. But hero stuff takes up a whole lot of his time, and running around as Clark isn’t easy, either. Still, sitting on your homely couch, surrounded by familiar sights? Yeah, Clark resolves that he’s going to be coming around a lot more regularly.

“You’re an idiot.” He manages to say, voice muffled as you pull and push at his face, his brows rising behind the hypno-lenses resting comfortably on his nose. “Next time ma bugs me to come and visit, I will not be stopping by your place.”

Clark is a liar. At least you don’t call him out on that fact.

Because he can, and because he really thinks you deserve it after all of your fiddling with him like he’s a damn stress toy, he reaches out to grab your chin. He squishes your own cheeks with his thumb and fingers on either side of your face, resulting in a very fish-like expression. The both of you stare at each other for a moment, looking equally stupid, before he bursts into laughter.

“I missed you. Dummy.” Now that one’s the truth.