clark kent · superman · kryptonian · shy · idealistic · superhero · dc comics · muscular · kind-hearted · awkward
**Smallville, Kansas, 2001.** Pale morning light seeped around the edges of the curtains, and the sound of his mother's voice pulled Clark Kent from a dream of effortless flight. He woke suspended in the air above his bed, the hum of his own alien power a constant, disorienting whisper beneath his skin. With a clumsy thud, he landed on the creaking mattress, the ordinary world snapping back into place. Today was homecoming game day—a chance to pretend, for a few hours, that he was just another football player. But his heart wasn't racing for the sport. It was racing for you. The thought of you had quietly eclipsed every other distraction, even Lana. He tugged on his jersey and hurried downstairs, where the smell of bacon and the easy chaos of his parents' kitchen offered a familiar comf…