all right, so you're nonchalant (

runpunkrun) wrote,
2005-05-15 21:58:00

Fic: Angry Greeks

Author: Punk
Fandom: Smallville
Pairing: gen
Rating: PG

Summary: She lets him keep his secrets.

For those of you following along on our home game, this takes place about a year after Name us a King and two years before Interstitial.

[Angry Greeks]

Feedback: here or e-mail
Website: The Underground

Tags: fan/fiction, men of steel

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67 comments

raincitygirl

May 16 2005, 05:45:03 UTC 7 years ago

Sniffle.

May 17 2005, 01:11:06 UTC 7 years ago

I was totally sniffly while writing the end of this. They're such a mess!

linzeestyle

May 16 2005, 06:11:15 UTC 7 years ago

:sniffle: That made me giggle in parts, but then broke my heart at the end, even knowing that Interstitial comes along and makes life a little better for poor Clark.

Such a woobie.

Linzee

May 17 2005, 01:07:18 UTC 7 years ago

Yeah, things get better for Clark, but what about poor Chloe? *g* I'm going to have to bring her back for the Interstitial sequel. Get her a fabulous job and a nice boyfriend, or at least a cool car.

7 years ago

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7 years ago

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linzeestyle

7 years ago

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7 years ago

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linzeestyle

7 years ago

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May 16 2005, 06:12:18 UTC 7 years ago

This is so very good.

As much as it hurts to read, I love the way you've shaped Clark's relationships and shown how he's grown apart from everyone. Seeing Clark through Chloe's eyes, reading the line where she says that part of her hates Clark because he won't let her in, let her help him... it just breaks my heart.

May 17 2005, 04:24:55 UTC 7 years ago

When I first came up with the idea to write this fic, I'd planned on it being from Clark's POV. I soon realized that it needed something new about it, though, and thus the POV was passed to Chloe. She really brought so much more to this story because we got to look at Clark and see that he wasn't coping as well as he thought he was.

May 16 2005, 06:49:59 UTC 7 years ago

I'm kind of in love with that cheerleader guy.

> Forget Alias. Try Smallville.

Heee..

May 17 2005, 01:09:31 UTC 7 years ago

The cheerleader guy is exactly the kind of guy you're supposed to be kind of in love with. Chloe would have been if she'd been paying attention.

May 16 2005, 07:23:34 UTC 7 years ago

GOD, I love your writing. :)

Now I guess I have to go read Interstitial again... yay!

Just out of curiousity... any special reason Chloe's at Smith?

May 17 2005, 05:06:07 UTC 7 years ago

Thank you!

No particular reason Chloe's at Smith, I just wanted to do something different. I figured she might like that kind of girl-power environment, plus it's prestigious and it'll make her look good when she applies to grad school at Columbia.

7 years ago

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7 years ago

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digitalwave

May 16 2005, 08:19:52 UTC 7 years ago

God, I love this story and this universe. I just finished rereading Interstitial again. I think I love it more every time I read it.

Thanks so much for sharing this sweetie.

May 17 2005, 06:52:37 UTC 7 years ago

Thanks! I think I'll write one more story in this universe and then Clark and Lex are on their own. *g*

firesprite1105

May 16 2005, 09:32:35 UTC 7 years ago

WOOBIE!

I'm now in the middle of rereading the trio. Man, I forgot how much I adore Interstitial. It makes me Tiggerlike with glee. :D

May 17 2005, 07:45:40 UTC 7 years ago

This might sound weird, but I wish I could read all three of these stories in order without knowing what happens. I wonder what it'd feel like.

May 16 2005, 13:06:05 UTC 7 years ago

omgyay!

*gets out the handkerchief*

*sits down to read*

May 16 2005, 13:44:50 UTC 7 years ago

Wrinkled velociraptors! Feral, depressed nerds! oh god I love your similes.

They wouldn't let him play sports. They never allowed his picture in the yearbook. They don't like him on the news.

Oh, wow, I'd never realised how freaky the Kents must appear to everybody else. But they are! Weird and freaky and kinda evil! omg. That's so cool! I mean, sad. But cool!

Clark is so fucked up and lonely. And Chloe! *cries*

7 years ago

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May 16 2005, 15:03:41 UTC 7 years ago

*adores*

May 17 2005, 07:52:24 UTC 7 years ago

*basks*

luthorienne

May 16 2005, 17:31:21 UTC 7 years ago

Damn, you're good.

I would greedily howl for more, but that would be piggy.

Ah, the hell with it. MORE, PLEASE!!!!

May 17 2005, 21:31:10 UTC 7 years ago

Well, will you look at that. It worked!

No, seriously. I do plan to write a sequel to Interstitial. I got this far. I might as well finish it off. Plus I owe Chloe.

May 16 2005, 18:33:22 UTC 7 years ago

Wow. What a beautiful but sad story.

May 17 2005, 22:31:54 UTC 7 years ago

Thank you. I generally write happy stories so this was a nice change for me.

May 16 2005, 20:42:54 UTC 7 years ago

I didn't realize one of my favorite SV authors, Punk, had an LJ! I'm adding, if that's okay.

May 17 2005, 22:24:40 UTC 7 years ago

That is perfectly fine, it's what I'm here for!

dracunculus

May 17 2005, 01:03:46 UTC 7 years ago

This made me cry.

You are my favorite Smallville writer. By like a million.

May 17 2005, 22:48:15 UTC 7 years ago

Aw, shucks. Thank you.

afearfulthing

May 17 2005, 05:17:58 UTC 7 years ago

Oh my. Ditto all the things other people have said, especially the stuff about Chloe and Clark and how he and his whole thing looks for the outside.

Interstitial has been my first and most frequently read SV fic. All the other stories I've read since, I've been hoping for something good like that.

Also: Oooooo! The title! Layers!

May 18 2005, 01:30:05 UTC 7 years ago

Chloe made a good narrator for this. She saw all the things that Clark would have just ignored or hid.

I tried to cram as many little Greek references into the story as I could, too.

May 17 2005, 08:07:25 UTC 7 years ago

Oh my God. I just freaked myself out. After reading this and being unsurprisingly amazed yet again by your writing, I asked myself, "But what about Lana?"

Oh my God. AlMiles, get out of my brain!!!!!

May 18 2005, 01:41:55 UTC 7 years ago

This is a Lana Free Zone!

If it makes you feel better, Lana will probably pop up in the sequel, but only to serve Lex coffee. *g*

May 17 2005, 09:13:43 UTC 7 years ago

*wail*

Beautiful and inevitable and so bloody sad.

*shaky sigh*

Gorgeous.

May 18 2005, 01:54:15 UTC 7 years ago

Thank you!

May 17 2005, 10:28:20 UTC 7 years ago

*sniff* I just love love love Chloe in this.

Sad and beautiful and funny all in one.

I could so identify with Chloe. Her sitting in bed, eating M&Ms and compulsively re-organizing her iPod instead of doing her work? ME! Her being disgusted at the party? ME! (Although, for a second there I was cheering for that cheerleading boy. He did seem snarky and bright at first.) And this: She is a terrible person who needs to call her father and let him know she's not dead. made me laugh out loud because, again, MY LIFE! *g*

(I also have a fondness for that old green Jetta. Nostalgia almost.)

Thanks for being my M&Ms/iPod of the day.

May 18 2005, 01:54:55 UTC 7 years ago

It wouldn't be college without avoidance behaviors. *g*

Glad you liked the fic!

lapetite_kiki

May 17 2005, 11:27:53 UTC 7 years ago

Aww, so wonderful!

May 18 2005, 01:55:22 UTC 7 years ago

Thanks, Kiki.

May 17 2005, 11:58:11 UTC 7 years ago

Oh! Tear! Lex looked for Clark and he wasn't there. Woobie! Clark was so hot when he was yelling at the frat brothers. And it was SO good that all of of a sudden out of nowhere Clark has found this guy in a trunk. Because that's how it must seem to Chloe - like Clark? Where did you? How did you? Whatever...

So good but so sad! Must re-read interstitial to cheer self up.

PS, Chloe needs a happy ending.

May 18 2005, 02:51:05 UTC 7 years ago

Aggressive and slightly unhinged is always a good look for Clark.

It was great to write that rescue from Chloe's POV, because, yeah, suddenly Clark's just found this guy in a trunk, and she was really too drunk to ask questions.

And Chloe *will* get her happy ending. I owe her. Especially since I killed her off-handedly in my last fic. Sorry, Chloe.

May 17 2005, 16:44:28 UTC 7 years ago

*sniff* Clark is so dumb sometimes. I love your Chloe. She should get some loving in the future from someone that deserves her.

May 18 2005, 01:52:58 UTC 7 years ago

For the longest time I've intended to write a fic where Chloe has a boyfriend of her very own. I'm just waiting until I can find someone good enough for her.

May 17 2005, 20:39:08 UTC 7 years ago

I love how you captured Chloe's voice so well, grounding the narration with her snarky similies and observations. You made me feel university, and winter, and drunken frat parties like they were all just yesterday, and even made me think of the good bits with fondness, even though this story dwelt so much in the not-so-good.

It's painful to see Clark all messed up, but interesting to see the different approaches Clark and Chloe take when dealing with traumatic life events. Just like he does in his articles, Clark wallows in the atmosphere of depression. He turns inward, cuts himself off from his parents and friends, and actively prevents people from helping him. Chloe, though, puts on her brave face, soldiers onward, and when things get to be too much, retreats to the unconditional love of her dad.

I especially loved this bit, which I thought captured both the feel of the story and my thoughts on Clark rather well: Chloe stares out at the empty construction site across the street. There was freezing rain earlier and it left a hard coating of ice over everything. She's going to cry if she has to stand here for one second longer.

*sigh* I really hope you write that sequel. I'd like to picture Chloe with her head tilted up and her eyes shining with hope, not brimming over with tears.

Going back to the earlier part of the story, there were many wonderful bits that I pasted into Notepad to savour after the fact, but I shall share only one. Since I like riding in cars, as passenger or driver, I couldn't resist this sentence that so perfectly captured the feeling of encapsulated well-being that I get from being in a warm car in the winter: A purple-haired grandma in a Chevy tears past them and Chloe giggles, defrosted and half asleep in the heat blowing from the vents. Plus, it highlights Clark's pathetic freeway crawl.

May 19 2005, 22:07:15 UTC 7 years ago

I wanted to mix the good with the bad here, with a slow creep into almost-everything-is-bad. This is a real turning point for Clark. He's forced to stifle his need to help in order to please his parents and protect himself. Which we don't see until Interstitial, but this is where it starts.

The funny thing about these stories is that they're delayed like that, they're cause and effect but the effect isn't clear until the sequel. Which is why I'm finally getting excited about writing the sequel to Interstitial. I need to answer all the questions this series brought up. AND I need to give Chloe a chance to be happy, and to see Clark happy with Lex.

Thanks for the wonderful comment.

May 19 2005, 13:53:28 UTC 7 years ago

I'm commenting far too late, but I wanted to say how much I liked your story for all its wondrous beauty. I love the Chloe voice, the slickness of Lex's brief appearance (I love him best when he's slick and neat and cool.) and for the nice temp of Clark's angst: just the perfect warmth. But what makes this story such a treat is how polished all the facets are: how Chloe notices the small things that add up to the big sadness, how the reader isn't hit over the head with TELLING DETAILS, how real life is subtly reflected in all the small, quiet details. I got an immense feel of place with this story, which just drew me in closer to the emotional life of it, and I really loved the understated-ness of it all. You can tell there's sturm and drang underneath the surface, and Chloe is SO GOOD at the underneath-the-surface bits.

May 19 2005, 21:57:13 UTC 7 years ago

No such thing as too late! At least when it comes to feedback. *g*

I really wanted a quietly angsty story where the sadness builds. Where Chloe gives the clues -- without even understanding all of them -- and then the reader does the rest. I like subtlety. It's good to hear I wasn't being TOO subtle.

And, as you can tell, I had a lot of fun writing this Metropolis I made up. I actually drew a little map so I knew where everything was.

Thanks for the great feedback!

May 21 2005, 23:20:11 UTC 7 years ago

I didn't get a chance to read this until now, but I'm glad I got the chance, because I really enjoyed this, sad though it was. It was a worthy addition to the Interstitial-verse, which is high praise, since that was one of the first SV fics I read that made a *huge* impression on me and that I return to for comfort ... I love how you included so much set-up of what is to come, how sad and poignant this is in all its little details that just ring true ... I *really* loved your Chloe, her voice, and of course the boys, how nothing changes but it still hurts and I how I so easily *believe* this version of the characters...

May 22 2005, 23:14:14 UTC 7 years ago

Clark is so alone in Interstitial, and this was my chance to show exactly how he got that way. It was fun to write this while looking forward to that Clark and Lex. It let me enjoy the angst because I knew it would get better, even if Chloe didn't. I'm kind of a wimp that way. *g*

garnet_words

May 22 2005, 03:54:21 UTC 7 years ago

This was just fantastic. You made me HURT for Chloe and Clark, and you have such an interesting and funny way of describing things... and I love the little details like Chloe's Geico commercial at the beginning.

May 22 2005, 23:18:00 UTC 7 years ago

Hee! Their airport reunion was just so much like a long-distance commercial or something that Chloe had to make a joke about it.

May 25 2005, 23:13:30 UTC 7 years ago

This was quite lovely. I went back and re-read the rest of the series first and was reminded of how well you demonstrate relationships with little details. My favorite example, in Interstitial, is when Lex gives Clark his sunglasses after the ball game. To me that was such a nice moment, showing how attune to Clark and his needs Lex is, and how he tries to make things better.

May 26 2005, 08:45:28 UTC 7 years ago

The problem with being friends with Clark is that so much has to go unsaid. So those little details become important because they're the only way to communicate with him without scaring him off.

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