Diving into the beginning I start thinking again about The Revenge of Al! That, once the truth comes out, or Lex as it were, the vengeance would be epic and likely involve some kind of exquisite sexual torture! Thinking, "Poor Al, he's going to want this life. Want this to BE his life." and Clark may as well be stomping that into the dirt. The exact opposite of husbandry.

Then, reading into the end of this part, it is so gentle and soothing--so natural. The love between them so obvious it's palpable, I start to believe, whatever the hurt, they will be able to recover. It will be the natural course of things, and so capably handled. I still cried, though, damn it!


Also, wept a bit for wee!Al when Clark started thinking about the little boy learning kitchen secrets from housekeepers and trying so hard to be very, very good. That's just... I have no words.

Clark, keeping his secrets in the barn. The fear Al would discover the truth and leave him. Ow! Clark, bless him, living in the now because the future is just so damn scary.

And Pete! lemme just say:

I may not know the gay man's secret handshake. But I am not blind, either. Or stupid.

*bwah* homage!homage!

Dude, Pete voice-- so incredible. I swear, it's an amazing testament to the strength of his friends that they weren't ALL emphasizing the occasional sentence with "man". Thank God he was never wont to use the word "homies", my nostrils couldn't take it!

And Clark, keeping a different kind of secret this time. That is so amazing.

Thank you SO much for this part. That had to hurt.