Disclaimer: I don't own Smallville or any of its wonderful characters;) Oh, and this story is most def. AU;)

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"Come on, Clark. It could be fun," Chloe Sullivan says to her best friend. She's been trying to get him out of the house, scratch that; she's been trying to get him out of his barn loft for the better part of an hour. She's suggested everything; the park, Crater Lake, The Beanery, the theatre, everywhere; but he declined every suggestion she threw his way.

"Chloe, I don't have anyone to go to the couple's fair with," Clark responds.

It stings a little. She wishes he would just pop his head out of Lana's ass for just a few seconds so that he could see there are other girls out there; and even though she wishes she could be one of those other girls, she'd settle for any…other…girl…besides Lana. Any other one.

"Just go with me, Clark," Chloe sighs a little warily. She knows what's going to happen next. He's going to frown at her and say, "You?" Then her feelings are going to get hurt and he'll notice. Then, he's going to say, "But we're not a couple." Just to try and cushion the blow.

But he doesn't say anything at all; which is much, much, worse. She's about to tell him to just forget it when he speaks.

"Chloe, that would be cheating."

She rolls her eyes. Is he really that much of a goody two shoes? Going to a couple's fair with a friend rather than a person's significant other is not cheating. It's just going to a couple's fair with a friend rather than going with your significant other.

"Clark"-

"I'm serious Chloe. I know everything about you. We'd win all the competitions. It won't be fair to everyone else," he interrupts.

It's not hard for her to hide her smile because Clark's still looking at his hands rather than up at her; but even if she wanted to, she wouldn't be able to. Clark's reason for not wanting to go to the couple's fair with her is because he knows her too well? It's not a confession of love or anything; but it's kinda up there in her book.

"That doesn't mean we'll win. What if I don't know everything about you? We could still lose, or place second at the most," she tries. Clark doesn't bite. He doesn't even pretend to consider such a ridiculous thought.

"You're not going to pretend you don't know everything there is to know about me. It's lying; and cheating, Chloe." He scolds.

She rolls her eyes.

"What's the big deal? I'm sure every couple is going over questions and answers they think will be asked, making sure they know everything there is to know about each other; in other words, cheating."

"That doesn't mean we have to cheat too Chloe," he reprimands.

She gives up, plopping down beside him with a heavy sigh.

"And not everyone is gonna cheat. I don't think Lana's gonna cheat," he adds.

Chloe rolls her eyes. She should've known he wouldn't want to go somewhere Lana and Jason Teague are bound to be.

"No, but I bet it'd be fun to see just how much Jason doesn't know his girlfriend," she sighs. Then she looks down at the floor, searching for her shoes.

Clark catches her hand just as she picks up the first sneaker.

"What did you say?"

He's frowning, it makes Chloe sigh again. She's really not in the mood to be lectured about how inappropriate her not-so-inappropriate comment was. She just wants to go home, pull out the ice cream, grab a good book, and waste one of the most beautiful days in bed.

"I said, it'd be fun to see just how much Jason doesn't know Lana."

Sure, she could've lied. But there'd be no point. He'd know.

"Okay." Clark says before standing up abruptly.

Chloe stands as well. "Okay what?" Apparently, she's missed something.

"Okay, we'll go to the couple's fair," he tells her before taking off his shirt and heading down the steps.

Chloe sits in the loft, a little stunned by his abrupt change of mind. That is until she realizes Clark Kent wants to see just how much Jason doesn't know about Lana.

She laughs a little and shakes her head. He's not as nice as everyone thinks he is. Not if he's going to the couple's fair just to show Jason up.

Clark comes back a few seconds later, and upon seeing Chloe seated on his couch, he frowns.

"What are you doing? We have to go, now. The fair opens in thirty minutes."

Chloe shakes her head at him. And before she can tell him that she's already ready, he takes her home…quickly. Like always, it takes her a few seconds to adjust to suddenly not being wherever she once was. She doesn't think I'll ever get used to it.

"Okay, hit the showers, get dressed, you've got ten minutes," he tells her.

She doesn't move; just stares at him with raised eyebrows. Sure, she wanted him to show a bit of enthusiasm over something; but this is going a little overboard. And besides, he told her she had thirty minutes before. Why does she suddenly have ten minutes?

Impatiently, Clark grabs a hold of Chloe's arms, turns her around, and guides her into the bathroom, before shutting the door.

"Nine minutes!" he calls.

Chloe shakes her head. If he had been paying any attention to her at all, he would've noticed that she's already showered and dressed. There's a good chance they won't have to cheat in order to lose. She'd point that out to him, but he's hollering she's got eight minutes.

Oh well. She takes the time to redo her make-up. It might take a little longer than eight minutes, but Clark'll live.

Eight minutes later, Clark's knocking on the door. "Chloe, let's go!" he rushes her. She opens the door and peeks her head out. "Calm down; I'm almost down with my make-up!" she yells before attempting to close the door back, but Clark stops her by blocking the door with his foot.

"You're beautiful Chloe. Let's go," he says as he pulls her out of the bathroom by her wrist.

Although she's slightly irked by the fact that he's just told her any ol' thing to get her to hurry up, she can't help but to be pleased at the same time. He could've said, "You don't need any more make-up," or, "You look fine," or even, "You look beautiful;" but instead he told her that she is beautiful. She holds on to that thought as he lifts her up and whisks her away to Chandler's Field where Smallville's first annual Couple's Fair is being held.

It's 11:46am when they get there. They're fourteen minutes and thirty seconds early; but it's not so bad. They're not alone. A lot of couples came early so that they could get a head start on filling out the couple's registration form.

Chloe pulls out a ten and hands it to the woman in the box office. The woman hands her the form and a ticket, all without smiling or looking up at her once.

When Clark hands her his money though, she does look up, and she practically drools as she hands him his form. "Where's your partner?" she asks sweetly; but it's more than obvious that she's fishing.

Clark turns a little and points at Chloe.

"Oh. You know, when the more serious couples come get their tickets, the gentleman pays for his lady." She winks.

Chloe rolls her eyes and practically gags.

Clark chuckles and shakes his head. "Even if Chloe and I had been married for fifty years, she still wouldn't let me pay for her. It's one of those little things she does to remind me that we're equal."

"Ah, so you've got yourself a feminist," she concludes.

"No. Not really," Clark answers before thanking her for his ticket and walking away. It's not like he could tell her that it's more or less Chloe's way of making sure they're equal when it comes to the human vs. alien thing, not male vs. female.

Chloe pretends not to have been watching, or listening, to Clark's exchange with the ticket lady as he makes his way toward her. She doesn't look up to acknowledge him, just focuses on the couple's form. It's a bunch of questions designed to gather how much knowledge each individual has of their partner, and their relationship as a whole. It's actually pretty easy. Chloe doesn't have to even think with some of these questions. Seriously, who takes longer to get dressed? She does. Who holds the remote when they're watching TV? She does. Who's smarter? She is. Who drives the worst? She does.

See? Easy peasy. But there is one question, the very last question, that she gets stuck on. She stares at it for quite a while, rereading it over and over again. It says:

Which physical trait would you least like for your child to inherit from your partner? Personality quirk? Bad habit?

She can't answer that question, not because she and Clark are not a real couple, because she's honestly fantasized about having a family with Clark before. She can't answer that question because there's nothing she wouldn't want her child to inherit from Clark. Even some of Clark's most annoying quirks and habits are quite endearing.

Damn, she's got it bad.

Clark gets up and drops his form into the box near the box office. He's done already? It didn't even take him two minutes. Yet Chloe's been stuck on the last question for at least three minutes.

The woman who was chatting him up before smiles at Clark when he gets there, but he barely returns it. He walks over to her and stands there silently. Chloe glances at him once or twice, but he doesn't look back at her. He looks a little…distant. Like he's off in another world, and Chloe hopes he doesn't regret coming here with her. She also wonders what physical trait of hers he wouldn't want their hypothetical kid to have. She can think of a million without feeling a thing, but if Clark can too, that'll hurt her pride like nothing else could.

She sighs and gets up to turn her form in. She couldn't think of an answer for the last question. So, that's what she wrote. She literally wrote, "I can't think of anything."

"Come on Chloe. The gates are opening," Clark sighs loudly behind her.

She nods her head. She can see that. And again, she wonders if he wants to go home. They don't have to go through with this. She just wanted to have some fun, but if he's going to be like this, then they're not going to have fun. So, they might as well go home.

He walks in front of her, barely looking behind himself to see if she's following. This isn't going to work, Chloe decides. She tugs on the back of his shirt and waits for him to turn around and acknowledge her.

"Clark, we can go home if you want to. We don't have to be here," she shrugs as nonchalantly as she can manage. That way he'll know there're no hard feelings.

He stares at her, long enough to make her uncomfortable, and most definitely long enough for her to show that she's not feeling as nonchalant as she implied earlier.

"Don't you want to stay?"

Chloe feels guilty immediately. He doesn't want to be here and she does. If she tells him she wants to go home, she'll be lying; and he's genuinely asking her what she wants; not what she thinks he wants to do.

Chloe shrugs.

"Yes or no, Chloe" Clark demands a little harshly in Chloe's opinion.

She nods her head. "Yeah, I want to stay," she confesses softly.

"So, we're a couple now. Me and you, right?" he presses.

She nods her head again.

"Okay, then we should act like it, right?" and before Chloe can agree, he holds his hand out for her to take. Chloe can feel her heart drop into the top corner of her sneakers. Clark's going to use her as his girlfriend just so he can try to make Lana jealous.

Still, she puts her hand in his. And when he smiles at her, she smiles back.

"Chloe? Clark?"

They both turn around at the sound of familiar voices. Myra and Doug. They've been dating since kindergarten. They'll probably win the Ultimate Power Couple award, which happens to be a three day trip to the Bahamas.

"Wow, you two are a couple now!" Myra squeals excitedly. "I knew it was gonna happen one of these days. You guys are always together, and Chloe had the hugest crush on you for forever, right Chloe?" she blabbers while elbowing Chloe in the ribs gently and winking.

Chloe could just die of embarrassment.

On the other hand, Clark's mood has changed dramatically. He grins at Myra and Doug. Tells them good luck and that he and Chloe are gonna swipe the Ultimate Power Couple award from underneath their feet. Doug and Myra laugh good-naturedly while telling Clark to keep dreaming.

Clark's still smiling when the other couple is no longer around, and Chloe fears he's decided that maybe it'll be okay to cheat just this once. That it'll be worth it to beat Lana and Jason.

"Chloe, what about the wheelbarrow relay?" Clark asks suddenly. "You wanna play?"

Chloe feels herself getting more and more disappointed in Clark. The wheelbarrow relay race; a game where one person, usually the strongest, holds the other up by the legs so that their hands are still on the ground and they have to make their way to the finish line before the other couples? They'd definitely win that. It won't even take a tenth of Clark's strength to support her weight as he pushes her to the finish line.

He has decided to cheat. Clark doesn't cheat, and it's one of the things she really likes about him; even when it's annoying.

"Look, there's Lana and Jason." He says, getting her attention, as he starts to pull her in the direction of the race. He's rushing a bit because the referee is on his megaphone, calling for more couples before the race starts.

Chloe tugs her hand, trying to get Clark to let go. She doesn't want to race against Lana and Jason just so that Clark can beat them. She wants Clark to go back to being the goody two shoes that he is. "We can't. It's cheating." She tugs a little harder.

"How?" Clark stops so suddenly Chloe runs into him.

"You're…strong and fast. The other couple's won't have a chance."

Clark frowns at her, before realizing what she's trying to say. "Yeah, but you're not that strong, or that fast," he says as he points at a huge sign near the sign up desk.

She has to squint to see the sign properly, but once she realizes what it says she looks to Clark questioningly. There's no way they're going to win. Not if the first rule to this particular wheelbarrow relay is that the smallest of the couple has to be the one to support the other. That means Chloe has to hold Clark's legs and wheel him forward? They'll place last at best.

She was wrong about Clark wanting to cheat; but doesn't he want to win? Doesn't he want to beat Lana and Jason?

"We probably won't even win." he grins back excitedly, as if the thought of losing is appealing.

It's not.

"Come on," Clark tugs on her hand as they catch up with Lana and Jason.

Chloe gets jealous of Lana immediately. She's smaller than Jason; which means she'll have to support him, but Jason's nowhere near as big as Clark; who probably weighs twice as much as Chloe. That's more than 200 pounds!

Lana blinks in surprise when she sees the two of them together; but she recovers quickly and greets them warmly.

Jason greets them too; but with a "Hey Clark, who'd you come with?"

Clark frowns back at him and holds his hand up, the one that's entwined with Chloe's. Lana jabs Jason in the ribs as inconspicuously as she can, but Chloe still sees it. She feels her face going red. This was such a bad idea.

"Yeah, but this is a couple's fair, Clark," Jason jokes.

Chloe tries to pull her hand out of Clark's, but he holds firm. "I know," he says with an easy smile.

"Uh-huh. So how long have you tow crazy kids been a couple?"

"Jason!" Lana interjects.

Usually Chloe would've interjected too; but she kind of wants to see what Clark says at the same time. He's acting kind of different. Normally, he'd be all flustered and embarrassed, and though he's not James Bond smooth right now, he doesn't exactly seem intimidated. He just seems calm and… happy.

"For about twenty minutes, Coach," he answers honestly, but mockingly as well. Jason used to be a coach at Smallville high. His career there ended when he started dating one of the students, Lana.

"Hey Chloe, can you go get us registered into the race real quick?" Clark asks through clenched teeth..

"You too Lana. Can you please get us our number?" Jason asks immediately.

It doesn't take a genius to figure out that the men want the ladies out of the way so that they can release a bit of that barely contained testosterone. And judging by how quickly Lana and Chloe agree to leave, it's more than obvious that they don't want to be in the middle of it.

"I'm sorry," Lana says to Chloe as she's picking up two number fourteens for her and Jason.

Chloe shrugs. "Don't be."

It's not really Lana's fault. It's her own. She was the one who suggested the couple's fair knowing there would be other couples, other real couples. But she didn't care; and she still doesn't care. No matter how embarrassing it was when Myra said what she said about Chloe being in love with Clark for forever, no matter how obnoxious Jason acts because he can see that she and Clark are not a real couple, and no matter what else happens this day; it'll all be worth it, just to spend some time with Clark.

That's what she has to concentrate on.