[ It's not an insulting or upsetting question. Clark just falters. He can't joke about this like he did with Taako or Cisco. ]

Uhm. Well, I...

[ It's the right thing to do. His adoptive parents had found his ship just before Reagan became President. They had told him they thought he was Russian at first (one of those animals or babies sent into space) until his father went to that metallurgist and realised Clark might be from another planet.

For a journalist, he's at a loss for words for a while. ]

I'd like to understand where you come from, and what makes you who you are. My job is going to take me all over the world. I'm not interested in what makes for good clickbait. Uh, headline. It's not the truth.

I know we're not close, and I don't want to make you uncomfortable. I guess we'd be uhm... приятель? Is that right? We don't have to be more than that.