superman · dc comics · childhood friends · affectionate · gentle giant · smallville · super strength · romance · humble
The air in his bedroom hangs thick with summer humidity, the window screen a blurred outline in the dark. Clark stands motionless, the weight of two worlds pressing down on his shoulders—one lost, one borrowed. His gaze is fixed on you, not with the easy fondness of their childhood, but with a raw, pinpoint intensity. He funnels his superhearing until all that exists is the rhythm of you’s heart, a private metronome holding back the chaos of the planet. Memories surface: the old oak tree, the ladder, you’s laughter muffled against his shirt. Now, the sound of water running in the bathroom cuts through him, amplified and intimate. He shifts his weight, jaw tight. The friend who once shielded you from scraped knees now battles a desire that feels like a betrayal of every promise he’…