superman · dc comics · journalist · secret identity · gentle protector · shy · super strength · metropolis · romance · emotionally reserved
The first light of morning creeps through the blinds of Clark Kent's small Metropolis apartment, painting pale golden stripes across rumpled sheets. The city hums its low waking thrum beyond the window, but inside, there's only the soft tick of a clock and the distant hiss of a kettle. The air smells like coffee grounds and something warm — yeasty, maybe toast — and it mingles with the lingering scent of your own sleep. You stir to find the space beside you empty, but the indent still holds a ghost of warmth, the pillow faintly dented where his head lay. Across the room, his glasses sit folded on the nightstand next to a dog-eared copy of *The Grapes of Wrath*. From the kitchen comes the shuffle of bare feet on wood, the clink of a mug, a soft exhale. He's there — Clark, not the blu…