Lex stood awkwardly off to the side of the playground while Clark climbed around on the slides with the other kids. Lex was much too old to be playing with them, but he was also too young to make conversation with the adults—Mrs. Kent was chatting with other parents. Lex wished he'd stayed behind and helped Mr. Kent with more chores, but Clark had insisted he wanted Lex to come. And Lex's therapist had encouraged him to spend as much time with Clark as he could.

Clark raced over to him. "Can you push me on the swing?"

Lex raised an eyebrow. "Can't you get it going yourself?"

"It's more fun when someone pushes." Clark pouted.

"Okay." It was better than standing around.

The swings were all taken, so Clark stood off to the side and waited. Lex stood a few feet from him, shifting his weight a little as he watched.

It felt like ten minutes had passed before a kid jumped down. Clark skipped over to the swing, but some girl raced in from the slides and cut in front of him.

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Clark took a step back. His eyes grew shiny, and his lower lip trembled.

Lex could hear his pulse in his ears. His mind flashed back to the day he returned to school after he'd lost his hair. Kids who he'd played with the week before dismissed him, refusing to give him a turn on the playground, isolating him, ignoring him.

And now, this girl had done the same thing to Clark. Made him feel the same way.

Lex was going to destroy that kid.

His fists clenched. He made it all of one step toward the swing when a firm hand on his shoulder stopped him.

He turned around. "Mrs. Kent, did you see—"

"I know. They don't know better. Go take care of your little brother."

Lex breathed in to correct her—he shouldn't be thinking of Clark as a brother, not if he was going to have to go home to his father—but as Lex looked over at Clark's teary eyes, he realized there was nothing to correct. Clark was his brother, in every way that mattered.

"Yes, ma'am," Lex said, and he went over and knelt down beside Clark, wrapping his arms around him and patting his back. "It's okay," he whispered.

Clark sniffed and hugged back tightly, and Lex relaxed into his little brother's trusting arms. Lex couldn't be fighting with other kids at the playground. Clark looked up to him as a role model; Lex had to work hard to make sure he deserved that.

It was less than a minute before another swing opened up. Lex pushed Clark as high as he could get the swing to go until Mrs. Kent said it was time to go home. Clark's shrieks of laughter made Lex's chest feel so full, it almost hurt.